The Games We Play
by Cap10
Summary: Between the intrigue, conflict, and war, even nations need to have a little bit of fun. It turns out that many nations actually enjoy game play in their spare time. This week's game-Ring Around The Roses...New Zealand was perfectly content to sing the childhood rhyme. That was of course until Ireland set the Commonwealth countries on what the rhyme really meant.
1. Pit

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, welcome to my newest story, The Games We Play. If you are looking for a serious, life altering read, this would be a good opportunity to run away screaming. If you are looking for a funny, goofy story about your favorite countries interacting over your favorite board, card, and video games then you have found the right place. This piece will be made up of a series of standalone one-shot stories, similar to the story collection 50 Apps Every State needs, but the states, provinces, and territories will not be making appearances in this particular story as this title will purely look at countries interacting with other countries. I hope that you enjoy. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, Pit, or any of the major stock exchanges._

* * *

**Pit**

* * *

"Everyone is clear on the rules, aru?" China asked the six other countries seated around Canada's kitchen table as he shuffled the stack of cards in his hand.

"Of course we are clear on the rules." England muttered under his breath. "This group has only been playing Pit together for the last hundred years. You would think that we could all recite the rule book in our sleep."

"Good. Then I see no reason for us to proceed, aru." China said sharply, his hands quickly divided the single stack of cards into seven piles and place one in front of the countries with the world's largest stock exchanges. When everyone had a few moments to look over and organize their cards, the Asian nation reached for the bell in the middle of the table and rang it with a smile. "Market open!"

The room exploded into a cacophony of noise. Japan was trying to trade two cards, while England wanted three. Brazil was trying negotiating a trade with Australia, while America and Canada bickered. In the middle of the noise China was doing his own best to corner his chosen commodity wheat, though he probably would have tried to corner rice if it would have been an option in the game. He was only four cards away from his goal, so close to winning when the crescendo game was interrupted by a loud crack and heavy maple table splintered. For a few everyone paused in shock, not sure what to say as the pieces of broken wood settled on the ground.

"Corner on Coffee." America finally spoke up a bit sheepishly as he held his cards out for inspection. Sure enough there was nine coffee cards neatly in a row.

"You win." Canada sighed. "But it is official, either America isn't allowed to play next time or we are going to play Pit at someone else's house. I am getting really sick and tired of having to purchase a new table every time you guys come over for a game night."

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Corner on Wheat!_

_**Next Chapter**__\- _Chess_-England and France are locked in a battle of wits. This can't end well...can it?_


	2. Chess

_**Author's Note-**__Hello everyone, welcome back to The Games We Play. I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter and hopefully I will enjoy the next chapter at least as much. Also, thanks to Amberfox, Olympusseriesisawesome, and Saoirsewolf for leaving lovely reviews._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia and, to be honest, I am a pretty terrible Chess player._

* * *

**Chess**

* * *

England wasn't completely sure how France had managed to convince to accept this chess challenge, he was even less certain on how France had managed to convince him to take the bet, but he kind of suspected that the large qualities of beer that had been consumed last night at the hotel bar last night. This morning England really considered backing out of the bet, but he was a gentleman and a gentleman keeps his word. Not that being a gentleman was helping him much at the moment. Currently it looked like he was losing a battle of wits against his southern neighbor.

"Check."

France look was almost predatory as he moved his queen one step closer to taking out England's king out.

"Check."

The French nation licked his lips in anticipation of winning, unfortunately he misjudged the situation. He had been so focused on England's king that he failed to pay attention to the other pieces on the board. France had walked into England's trap and the Brit's knight took Frances queen. Two moves later England's rook and bishop pinned France's king in the corner of the board leaving the king with no chance of escape. The game was over.

"Checkmate." England smirked.

France swore.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Checkmate._

_**Next Game**_\- Ticket to Ride, Nordic Edition- _A rare snow day cause school and work to be cancelled. Sweden, Finland, and Sealand take the opportunity to take play a game and teach their son a little bit about the locale geography. _


	3. Ticket to Ride, Nordic Edition

_**Author's Note**__\- Hello again everyone. Welcome to this week's post of The Games We Play. Today's chapter is a bit longer than the ones that preceded it, and has a bit less actual game play in it. Still, I hope you will find them just as entertaining as Chess and Pit. But before we jump into today's one-shot a quick shout out to the wonderful people who left reviews last week. Thank you to Guest, Celtic-Redhead, Saoirswolf, and Bluecupcake789 for leaving reviews (aka digital cookies) for the author. They are greatly appreciated. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or Ticket to Ride, but I totally rock the Nordic Edition whenever I play it._

* * *

**Ticket to Ride, Nordic Edition**

* * *

The snow outside of the window was falling thick and heavy, the wind howled and clawed at the panes of class, but inside of the sturdy little house built by Sweden's national personification all was calm. After centuries of living on the edge of the Arctic, Sweden had learned how to build homily houses able to weather even the worst winter storms. This was proven by the fact that the solid wooden beams and stone foundations barely even moaned when the worst gusts slammed into the building. Unfortunately, despite the strength of the Sweden's construction not all of the homes occupants were comfortable.

"Why don't you come away from the window Peter?" Finland sighed as he put down an after dinner treat of cookies on the coffee table and topped off Sweden's mug off coffee.

"But what about the storm?" The Sealand said without taking his eyes off the darkened scene outside, his voice tinged by fear.

"It w'll bl'w it's'lf out 'ventually." Sweden gentle placed one of his large hands on Sealand's head, tried to comfort the young micronation.

"But…"

"I know," Finland interrupted firmly. "Why don't we play a game?"

"But the electricity is out." Sealand motioned at the crackling hearth, candle lanterns, and battery powered lamps that cast shadows dancing across the living room.

"Why w'ld th't st'p us?" Sweden rumbled.

"How can we play games when the TV isn't working? I mean unless you have a generator that you haven't there is no way to boot up my playstation." Sealand stated dejected as he plopped down on the couch next to Hanatamago which caused the puppy to instantly try to climb on to the child's lap.

"Oh, we will not be playing that type of game." Finland grinned as he brought his torch to the hall closet and pulled out a brightly colored cardboard box. "Ticket to Ride is one of your Father and I favorite games, we have played it ever since it came out, and I promise that we are all going to have a boat load of fun."

* * *

Sometime during the night Sealand had stolen all of the blankets, but Finland could find himself caring too much. He was too comfortable nested on top of Sweden's chest, lulled into a half-sleeping, half-wakeful state by the rise and fall of his breath and the whisper of his heart beat. Sadly, even the best moments must eventually be broken. In Finland's case, his traitor bladder finally insisted on being emptied. By the time Finland returned to the living room, Sweden was already awake and moving. The giant nation had stirred the dying embers of last night's fire back to life and stoked the fireplace until it was filled with a roaring flame that was quickly chasing the last of the night's chill from their home.

"G'd M'rn." Sweden yawned and gave a quick peck on the lips before heading taking his turn in the washroom.

Content Finland almost considered kidnapping one of the quilts that Sealand had claimed during the night and curling back up on the couch. Perhaps he would read a book, or nap, or even just snuggle the morning away, but Hanatamago a different plan. The dog whined, pawing at the back door. The northern nation looked out the window at the still blowing snow and sighed. Well, it couldn't be helped.

Boots were stuffed into boots, peck on, hat pulled down over his ears, still the moment the door was opened the blizzard still managed to find every inch of exposed skin threatening frostbite. By this point Hana was so desperate that she ignored the cold and bounded strait into the snow. Hanatamago was not a large dog, she was also very white, and in less than three seconds she had completely disappeared into the massive snow banks. Finland bit back a string of swear words as he realized that he had forgotten to put the dog on her leash before opening the door.

It took an hour and a half to finally get Hana back into the house. By that point Hana was shivering from cold, Finland was soaked, and Sealand was staring out the back window laughing. Luckily, Sweden was a saint. Even though the power was out he had put a large pot of water to boil on the kitchen stove and used to it to heat the water in the bathtub. It was heaven slipping onto the warm water that chased the pin and needles of chill away.

"Mom, when are you coming out?" It was not until Sealand pounded on the wooden door that Finland realized had dozed off in the tub and that the water was now becoming uncomfortable cooled.

"I will be out in the moment." Finland said jumping out of the tub and reaching for a fresh tub. Thankfully Sweden had thought of everything his favorite pair of lounging pants with a comfortable shirt and thick knitted socks were sitting on the sink.

"Good, because Dad is done making breakfast, but he won't let me eat any of until you here." Sealand complained has he paced outside of the bathroom.

"See, I told you it would only be a moment." The Nordic nation opened the door to the relief of the micronation bouncing on his heels. "Let's go find out what Su-san has made for us."

Breakfast was an elaborate affair. There was a fresh pot of coffee spice with cardamom and cinnamon, paired pancakes drenched in birch syrup, eggs and reindeer sausage polished off the meal. Just the aroma caused Finland's stomach to grumble and he quickly understood why Sealand had been so excited to eat. For the first few minutes the kitchen was quiet, as the entire family focused on eating.

"So what you thinking about your first blizzard?" Finland asked when his stomach was no longer begging to be filled immediately.

"It is actually kind of fun." Sealand admitted thoughtfully. "Not having power kind of sucks, but having school canceled and everyone home has been great."

"Well it looks like everyone will be stuck at home for at least one more day." Finland admitted has he skewered a bite of reindeer sausage.

"Really? Can we play Ticket to Ride again?"

"I'm s're th't we c'n m'ke th't happ'n." Sweden shrugged.

"Great!" Sealand exclaimed in excitement waving his fork around to punctuate his statement. "I am totally going to win next round."

Both Finland and Sweden had to suppress a chuckle at their child's earnestness, as all three nations tucked into breakfast.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Family time!_

_**Next Game**__-_Go_-Japan and China spend lunch locked in a challenging game of strategy; but Italy is proving to be a bit of a distraction to their concentration. _


	4. Go

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone, new week, new story. Hope that you all will enjoy. But before we get to that a quick thanks to Witch of Old, Kaiser Josh, and Saoirsewolf for the lovely little reviews they sent to my inbox. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or Go. To be honest, people have tried to teach me how to play Go and it was an epic fail._

* * *

**Go**

* * *

Go, igo, weiqi, pinyin, baduk, the game had many names. It was over 2,000 years old but despite its ancient history it was still a favorite. A casual player could easily play a round or two during lunch, but when two masters faced each other the confrontation could take hours. With thousands of years of experience, you would be hard pressed to find masters more honed than the personifications of Asian nations.

Being without peers was often frustration for these nations. How could one improve one's game play, when you could easily outclass nearly every human being on earth? The only solution was to play among each other. Today, China and Japan had cleared their afternoon schedule to duel black and white pieces across a gridded board. Within the first five moves they had slipped into a soothing level of meditative concentration, focusing on stones and trying to predict each other moves.

"What are you doing?" Italy broke the quiet concentration of the two players.

"We are playing Go." Japan said simply as he moved his white piece the challenged China's black one.

For a few minutes that seemed to satisfy Italy, but then Japan moved to capture a few pieces and he just had to choose that moment to ask another question totally spoiling the trap. As the game progressed it began to be a chronic problem, Japan would prepare to make a series of moves to give him an advantage in the game and then Italy would spoil it by asking a stupid question at the worst possible moment. He really hated to admit it but Italy was slowly driving him nuts.

"How about now?" Italy asked for the ninth time in as many minutes.

"Italy-san." Japan closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply to calm his fraying nerves.

"What?" Italy glanced up from the board.

"Do you not think that Germany might enjoy some pasta for lunch?" The small Asian hoped his bluff would work.

"That is a great idea!" The European nation said brightly before

Japan was so relieved that he placed a stone without really thinking.

"Pulling up seedlings to make them grow, aru?" China looked smugly at the younger Asian nation. Japan looked him straight in the eyes refusing to be intimidated. In one graceful move he let his white tile click into place.

"Your turn."

* * *

_**End Note**__\- White or black._

_**Next Game**__-_Foosball_\- After the disaster at the Football World Cup Brazil challenged Germany to a rematch…of sorts… _


	5. Foosball

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, this isn't my favorite chapter of this story I have written thus far (that would be next weeks) but I hope that it will at least give you a bit of chuckle. Also a quick shout out to Saoirsewolf, Monica Honda, and Yin . Yang . Sparkle for leaving the lovely reviews. _

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia, foosball, nor the Football World Cup._

* * *

**Foosball**

* * *

Brazil had a problem. At the 2014 Football World Cup, which he hosted, the German team totally beat his butt. It hadn't even been a close game, it had been a total trouncing and now the proud South American Nation had to live with the fact that the other football were not letting him live down his defeat. It had been four months since the fateful game and Argentina was still bringing up the game at every possible opportunity. It was time to set the records straight.

Unfortunately, the moment that Brazil desired to defend his honor was at a UN meeting at the New York Headquarters. The United States of America is not a country known for its numerous football pitches, and downtown Manhattan is particularly barren from such sport facilities, so the South American had to improvise.

A bar across the street had the closest equivalent to a game of Football that Brazil could find within walking distance of the UN Building. The game was called foosball and looked like a miniature football pitch with little sticks to control the players. With his expertise in football, this tabletop game couldn't be that difficult, could it?

Turns out that football and foosball were two very different activities. It also turned out that Germany had had a lot of practice playing foosball against his brother Prussia. Prussia had apparently even purchased a game that was currently residing in Germany's Berlin apartment. Brazil didn't even have a prayer as the European nation won the game without Brazil getting a single chance to make a shot.

Brazil decided that he hated foosball with a passion.

* * *

_**End Note**__-Goooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaallllll!_

_**Next Game**__-_Checkers_-The game was never meant to be played with three players, but somehow the Bad Touch Trio managed to. _


	6. Checkers

_**Author's Note-**__ The weather here had been pretty dreary the last couple days…luckily I have had the Bad Touch Trio to cheer me up a bit. Hopefully they will bring a little chaos into your lives as well, but before we get to the fun it is time for quick shout out. Thank you to EverythingMath, Saoirsewolf, and Guest for the lovely reviews. _

_**Disclaimer-**__I do not own Hetalia, but I clearly have a better understanding of the game of checkers then the Bad Touch Trio._

* * *

**Checkers**

* * *

"Can you figure out what they are doing?"

"No." Hungry said after a pregnant pause. She turned back to Austria. "You?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I did." Austria sighed.

Hungary and Austria stood in silence at the doorway to the conference room for at least fifteen minutes trying to make heads or tails of what their fellow nations were doing. The longer they watched the more confused they became.

"Do you think that they actually have rules?" Austria finally asked. "Or do you think that they are just moving things around at random."

"I think that there must be some method to their madness. Although, with that group I wouldn't be too shocked if there is more madness then method." Hungary chuckled softly to herself. "Who knows which one is sane enough to beat the others?"

"With as long as they have been playing this game I don't know if anyone can win. I mean, they have been at it for at least three hours and they haven't even cleared knocked one person off the board." Austria smirked.

"True, true." Hungary agreed, and then got a thoughtful thought on her face. "Well, I for one am getting hungry. Shall we seek some form a refreshment? Switzerland mentioned that there is a new bar that is just off of the UN headquarters that has decent food and even better beers."

"That sounds lovely my dear."

With thoughts of dinner on their mind Austria and Hungary left the Bad Touch Trio to their game of checkers. With France playing the red pieces, Spain with the black ones, and Prussia planning across the board with a random assortment of coins, buttons, and pocket detritus. The three played long into the night and were still sitting there no closer to determining a winner when Austria came to check on them the next morning.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- King me! Somehow I wonder just how sober France, Spain, and Prussia were the following morning._

_**Next Game**__\- _Battleship-_ England challenges Spain to a round of battleship. Even though it is clearly a child's board game its similarity to a certain armada was nearly causing the Southern European to have a panic attack._


	7. Battleship

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, I hope that you enjoyed Prussia's antics. Today will also have a dash of humor, but this time it will come with a hearty serving of history instead of a large helping of awesome. But before we get to that a quick thank you to Saoirsewolf and bluecupcakes789 for sending the author some very Prussia like reviews. ;) _

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia, but I have sunk a few boats in my day…most of them where made of paper and only five or six inches long though…_

* * *

**Battleship**

* * *

There was a bit of an argument about who had invented the game first. France argued that his people had come up with the idea during WWI, while Russia claimed that his officers used it prior to the dawn of the Great War. During WW2 America had figured out how to commercialize the paper game, calling it by the name Salvo, Broadsides, Warfare Naval Combat, and Wings, but it was the name Battleship that really seemed to resonate. Since the end of the World Wars the game had become a staple pass time at most international conferences. And while many countries enjoyed the game no national personification latched on to the concept quite as much as England.

England was a complete Battleship fanatic. He not only dragged America to watch the scifi movie based on the game, but he had actually enjoyed it. The nation had even showed up at a Battleship tournament in full WWI naval garb. Every nation knew that they would have to be incredibly lucky to win against England, but for some reason Spain kept on challenging him.

"C…" England paused looking straight into Spain's eyes. "3."

Spain nearly swore. England had managed to hit one of his air carriers on the first play. The nation took a deep breath, any nation could get lucky on the first hit. There was nothing to do but marked the hit sent a volley towards his rival. Unfortunately Spain was not having a lucky day. Most of his calls were misses, while England hit one of his ships every single round. It took less than ten minutes for England to decimate Spain's fleet leaving nothing but the wrecks vessels his wake once again.

"So, would you like to play again?" England asked with a pirate like grin plastered on his face.

"I think I will pass." Spain managed to sputter out while trying to keep himself having a panic attack memories of the defeat of his beautiful, grand armada began to bubble up.

"Suit yourself." England smirked. "If you change your mind, you will know where I am."

Spain gave him a pained, half-hearted smile before stumbling off to go throw up in a waste basket.

"I still can't figure out why you keep on playing him?" France said with a shake of his head and a comforting hand on his friends shoulder he lost his lunch.

"For some reason, I keep on thinking that I can beat him." Spain muttered into the pile of scrap paper and bile.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Sunk!_

_**Next Game**__-_Murder in the Dark-_ It was suppose to be a fun, family friendly, team building activity, but everyone is pretty sure that Russia somehow managed to miss that memo. _


	8. Murder in the Dark

_**Author's Note-**__ It is Indian Summer in my little corner and I am kind of enjoying soaking in the last rays of the afternoon sun while I finish up writing this post…thus I am throwing it up on the internet a bit later in the evening than usual. Oh, well, I guess it is time to give a shout out to my wonderful reviewers. Thank you to Mighty Agamemnon, Kintoki Kin, and Saoirsewolf. And also thank you to my friend who requested a little story involving Russia playing Murder in the Dark, I hope that you will find this short entertaining._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia and I am terrible at playing Murder in the Dark._

* * *

**Murder in the Dark**

* * *

No one was quite sure who idea it was to play the children's game. Some argued that it had originally Liechtenstein, other blamed Northern Italy, but eventually it was Russia enthusiasm for the idea that the group of nations played Murder in the Dark during one of the world meeting breaks that finally made Germany add it to the agenda.

The first few rounds went smoothly. Sometimes the nation that drew the police officer card would win, other times the nation who drew the murder card would outsmart the police. The various nations were relaxing into their parts and actually enjoying the simple game, when someone gave a particularly blood curdling scream. At first no one took the scream seriously, but then England stumbled upon something wet and sticky in the middle of the room and rose the alarm. When someone actually managed to find the lights, they found a nation lying in the middle of the room surrounding by a growing pool of blood.

Under normal circumstances this would have caused mass panic, but it clearly injured nation was America so no one was particularly worried. The North American was hearty enough that a knife wound in the back wouldn't slow him down too much. This meant that the other nations could turn their attention on the more pressing issue, which was taking care of the games 'murder'. It wasn't tricky picky out the culprit. He was the only nation standing there with a bloody knife in his hands.

"Russia, you do know you are not actually supposed to try to murder people, right?" England asked with an exasperated sigh. The Eastern European nation just looked at him with an innocent smile on his lips.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Well, Russia, that is one way to try to knock off your frienemies._

_**Next Game**__-_ Statue-_Greece was either really good at this game, or he had fallen asleep long ago. Japan wasn't quite sure. _


	9. Statues

_**Author's Note**__\- So, updating last week was an epic fail. I will try to post two times this coming week to make up for that. But before we get to today's chapter here is a quick shout out to Guest, GirlLoki, Amberfox, Kintoki Kin, and Saoirsewolf. Thank you all for you little tidbits of encouragement and may you avoid having Russia haunt your dreams._

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia…and I cannot fall asleep sitting up…unlike Greece apparently…_

* * *

**Statues**

* * *

Greece had explained the rules to the game Statues at breakfast. The person who was it would yell freeze and the other people playing would strike a pose mimicking one of the world's most famous statures. Then Northern Italy had of course insisted on yelling 'Freeze!' on the top during a particularly long winded presentation by Hong Kong about how he disagreed with China's definition of democracy. Many of the world's nations took advantage of sudden interruption to rescue themselves from their own boredom by playing the game.

America was one of the first to stand, he jumped on the table with his clipboard and coke instantly raising his soda high in the Statue of Liberty pose. Brazil was next to also jump up on the conference table, his arms open wide in the pose of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that stood on the mountain over looking Rio de Janeiro. Russia raised his water pipe high like the statue The Motherland Calls raised her sword, and Egypt crouched like the great sphinx. France attempted to recreate Michelangelo's David, with no clothes on of course, but he was quickly ushered from the room by Switzerland by gun point so Liechtenstein could enjoy playing the game her arms swept back as the Phoenix.

Dozens of nations lay, stood, or sat in clumps around the meeting room. Some were struck positions mimicking their nation's most famous statues, others were posed like sculptures that represented their personality. It didn't matter how strong the nation was, it didn't take long for them to begin to fall. Some lost their balance and fell to the ground, others got bored and moved on purpose, still other broke well fellow nations stood inches from their faces and told jokes until they broke out laughing.

Only two nations appeared to be in the Statue Game for the long haul. It took were three and half hours for Thailand finally brake. He had been sitting calmly in the meditative posture of the Buddha when he sneezed. That only left one country in the pose of a statue. That country was Greece and it didn't look the Mediterranean nation, posed as The Thinker, was going to move anytime soon. In fact, Japan could almost swear that Greece was quietly snoring as he sat perfectly still in his chair in the corner.

* * *

_**End Note**__-Snore…_

_**Next Game**__-_Monopoly_-Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Liechtenstein sit down for a friendly game...a game where each nation's frugal nature backfires. _


	10. Monopoly

_**Author's Note-**__ As promised, here is the second story posted this week. This particular story was inspired by an NPR story which described Italy as a nation who was begging Germany to increase their allowance, and Germany as a country that would suck at playing Monopoly because he was too much of a chronic saver. The comment made me laugh and I couldn't get the idea out of my head, so now you are stuck reading it. But before we get to my take of the German speaking nations playing Monopoly and quick thank you to Guest and Saoirsewolf for their lovely reviews. I am sure that Greece will also enjoy reading them…if he ever decides to wake up from his nap. lol_

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia or Monopoly but I am pretty good at keeping to my budget._

* * *

**Monopoly**

* * *

"I passed go, give me my 200 bucks." Prussia looked up from his piece on the game board and thrust his hand towards the games banker.

"I think that we have a problem."

"What?" Prussia eyes narrowed.

"It appears that the bank has run out of money…" The nation motioned towards what was left in

"Hm," Germany looked thoughtfully the few dollars left in the bank, "it would appear that the bank in this game lacked the proper liquidity level."

"Very true." Austria said with a nod. "Well, what should we do next?"

"Well, I think that we should probably hold a meeting and figure out a way to restructure the banking system so that it is more sustainable in future rounds." Switzerland suggested.

"Excellent idea." Germany gave an authoritative nod. "All in favor of adjourning this round of the game in order to sort out crisis that the banking system in this game has been causing, say Aye."

There was a chorus of affirmative voices and a swell of chatter as different countries began to suggest their ideas for solving the problem. As the other nations left to go discuss monetary policy, Lichenstein just shook her head. This was the last time she was going to ask her brother to play Monopoly with her. It was normally such a fun game, but when the German speaking nations all played together there chronic saving habits always derailed things.

* * *

_**End Note**__-Budgeting doesn't always pay, lol._

_**Next Game**__-_Football_\- It is a beautiful fall day and many of the planet's nations decide to end the World Conference early and head out to a park to play a little football. Unfortunately it appears that a certain North American country misunderstood which football. _


	11. Football

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, the weather is quickly changing. It has already snowed where I am, but the weather report indicates that a whole bunch of you have had some pretty intense winter storms already. Well luckily our nation friends had clear skies this past week so that we could enjoy this little short. But before we get to this week's story, thank you to Maelstrom Alert and Saoirsewolf for your comments. As always they are greatly appreciated. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, but I totally know the difference between football and American football._

* * *

**Football**

* * *

It was a beautiful fall day so number of nations decided to head out into one of the many local parks in Zurich to enjoy an evening a physical exercise. As the game of football was nearly universal it was decided that that would be the sport to play. After the meeting was wrapped up early, the various nations headed back to your hotel rooms to grab their exercise clothes and running shoes. Most of the nations showed up early to the designated park excited to start the game, but when the United States of America showed up it was clear he wasn't dressed for the same activity as the others.

"Hey Iggy, where are your pads. I thought you said we were going to be playing football." America practically shouted as he jogged over from the park's parking lot.

"We are but…"

"Oh, so we are going to be playing flag football or no tackle football." America shrugged. "You totally should have told me. I wouldn't have brought my gear."

"Alfred, we are not…"

"Well it looks like everyone forgot to bring their footballs, good thing packed a few extra in my trunk."

"There are plenty of footballs here." England motioned towards the Italy twins dribbling on the far side of the pitch and Spain practicing kicking near the goal box.

"Well I have been around a whole lot of footballs," America made a show of scanning the field, "and I don't see any of them around here. Are you sure that people brought them?"

"We are playing Football not _Football_ you git." England said with exasperation waving sarcastically at the padded equipment and oblong brown ball the other nation was carrying.

"Dude, I still don't get it."

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Somehow I can't keep myself from thinking that America knows the difference between the two footballs but is playing up his ignorance just to drive England bonkers. _

_**Next Game-**_Axis and Allies-_The Axis and Allies countries have returned to the battlefields of WWII, only this time America, England, and Russia are the Axis powers while Germany, Italy, and Japan battle it out as the Allies…oh and of course this time their armies and fleets are made of little plastic pieces. _


	12. Axis and Allies

_**Author's Note**__-So today's story was a special request from reader Kaiser Josh. Thank you so much for the suggestion. There will be several other special requests coming in the coming weeks, so if you have a game that you would like the countries to play please let me know either by leaving a review or shooting me a pm. I would love your suggestions. You know what else I love? EverythingMath and Saoirsewolf for leaving wonderful reviews for the last chapter. Thanks a ton._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, but I am fond of epic war games such as Axis and Allies._

* * *

**Axis and Allies**

* * *

As tensions on the European continent continued to deepen someone decided that it was high time that the world's major powers had a chance to let off a little steam with some friendly competition. Next thing that Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia, England, and America knew they had practically been kicked out of the world conference and informed that they needed to go entertain themselves for the evening. Hours later the six nations had broken into Prussia's Berlin loft apartment challenging each other to a battle.

For the sake of world peace this particular battle took place on an Axis and Allies game board spread across the hard wood floor. As they were setting up the game Italy suggested that perhaps they should reverse roles. No one knew why they agreed, England blamed the numerous bottles of vodka that Russia had proffered them, but Germany had been give control of United States of America, Japan was given the United Kingdom, Italy the Soviet Union, Russia covered Germany, England was Italy, which left America to play the Japanese Islands. It took then forty-five minutes to set up the bloody game, and all of five for things to go terribly wrong.

"Ivan, you are not supposed to be attacking Japan!" America growled.

"Why not?" Russia did his best innocent look, which kind of made him look like a cat plotting murder.

"Because Germany is allied with Japan in this game." Germany explained.

"But I want to occupy Japan. I want it to be all mine…"

"You can't have it!" America interjected, but Russia didn't even acknowledge his comment and continued to talk.

"Everyone will be one with Mother Russia…"

"You are playing Germany." Japan tried to point out politely.

"Everyone will be one with Mother Germany…." Russia began, then clearly displeased with the words that came out of his mouth he started again. "That does not sound right. I now understand your point. I will conquer Russia back from Italy and unite the entire world under the flag of the Soviet Union."

Once Russia had completed his rant he proceeded to try to glare

"Would you like a beer?" Germany asked gruffly.

"That would be lovely." England sighed.

So the majority of the Axis and the Allied nations left to hit one of Germany's favorite bars leaving Russia to happily take over the world.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Well at least Russia is happy, and everyone else is probably pretty entertained by a less than sober England. I do have to admit that I had to have Russia state that everyone should become one with Mother Russia at least once in this story._

_**Next Game**__\- _Hide and Seek_\- Sometimes avoidance is the best solution to a problem. Canada takes advantage of a special ability get out of political responsibility. _


	13. Hide and Seek

_**Author's Note- **__Hey everyone, I hope that the month of December treated you well. I also hope that this little story will help brighten up the dark days of January, unless of course you live in the southern hemisphere. For all you readers down there, you are not allowed to brag about having picnics on the beach for the Christmas holidays. But before we get to the joys of Canada playing hooky I need to do a quick shout out to my wonderful reviewers. Thank you to Kaiser Josh, LilyofAzra, EverythingMath, and saorisewolf for your comments. Ivan would like to invite all of you to become one with Mother Russia. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, nor am I very good at playing Hide and Seek. I tend not to be able to stay still for long periods of time unless I am reading, writing fanfiction, knitting, or working in the lab._

* * *

**Hide and Seek**

* * *

Canada was an incredibly well mannered country. He avoided pointless arguments with others, he was a constant advocate for world peace, and as long as you didn't meet him on the battlefield he was an incredibly agreeable person to interact with. This said, even the nicest people have their limits and Mathew Williams reached his in the middle of finance meeting.

The world finances meetings had become increasingly heated in recent months. Western Europe was mad at Russia, Russia was mad at America, America was ignoring everyone else, and the OPEC nations were dealing with messy and sometimes public infighting. The source of all of this argument was a combination of sanctions and the price of oil. Both problems that Canada was actually fairly insulated from.

If Canada had been in a better mood perhaps he could have sat through the arguments with a straight face, but today he simply didn't have the patience to watching the rest of the world dissolve into a slow motion bar fight. So when America and Russia got into a particularly heated argument, one that involved Ivan attempting to straggle Alfred and then the American dumping a container of French Fries all over the Russians favorite scarf, Canada closed his briefcase and quietly made his escape.

Being a sniper, Canada began to look for a secure hiding place to spend the rest of the day. He found the perfect location in the rarely used international library. After stowing his brief case behind one of the billowing velvet curtains he climbed on top of one of the six meter bookcases near the library entrance. Secure in his snug hiding spot, the Arctic nation promptly curled up and took a nap. He stayed there for a good three hours before a familiar voice dragged him out of his pleasant dreams.

"Mathew, would you please come down from the top of the bookshelf and comeback to the budget meeting?" England sounded less than amused.

"Do I have to?" Canada yawned but remained curled up on his napping spot.

"Yes, you do."

"But it is so mind numbingly boring, and it is not like anyone notices when I am not there."

"America noticed." The former British Empire chuckled. "In fact, he about had a panic attack when you didn't meet up with him for lunch."

"Crap, we were supposed to go over immigration reforms today."

"Yep, and when you didn't show he become convinced that you somehow had managed to get yourself kidnapped or something. He was just about ready to call search and rescue when I convinced him that you probably holed up somewhere on a conference call about some minor national business."

"Thank you." Canada muttered an embarrassed blush spreading across his cheeks. Who knew what would have happened if America had been allowed to set up a search party. The last time that happened the super power had knocked a few sizable holes in the walls.

"You are very welcome." The elder nation said with a nod of his head and an amused smile on his lips. "We have all had days were we don't have the patience deal with bureaucracy. Just next time you decided to play hooky during one of our big meetings just be sure to tell your twin before you disappear into the ether." With that England motioned for Canada to come down from his perch. "Germany is prepared to hold an official vote as soon as you are able to return to the meeting hall. Once that is complete we will all be able to go home, so do you mind if we head back to the hall and get all of the politics over with?"

"I guess I don't have a choice in the matter." Canada sighed as he allowed the leader of the commonwealth drag him back to the meeting. "By the way, how in the world did you find me?"

"I never lose a game of Hide and Seek. I too much practice chasing away the fairies that terrorize my rose garden out of my sitting room." England said with a shrug. "Compared with them, you are a whole lot easier to find. Doubt I will ever find you perched on my ceiling after all and are significantly taller than the little buggers."

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Do not try to hide from England, he is too skilled seeing invisible things to be evaded for long._

_**Next Game**_-Twilight Imperium- _Best described as a cross between Settlers of Catan and Risk in space. The game quickly exceeds the attention span of Sealand and America, leaving England with the task of trying to hurry a game which cannot easily be played quickly. _


	14. Twilight Imperium

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, today I am highlighting one of my very favorite long form games. Also, just has a heads up it is incredibly difficult to write a story that involves England and Sealand in the same room that also doesn't involve a ton of swearing. As a result I didn't write a whole lot of dialog. I know you all would like to get to the story but before that a quick shout out to all you amazing reviewers. Thank you to Mofalle, Guest, C, EverythingMath, and Saoirsewolf. I glad that Canada's predicament entertained you._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or Twilight Imperium. That said I do write fanfiction for Hetalia and I totally kick butt when I play Twilight Imperium…that has to count for something, right?_

* * *

**Twilight Imperium**

* * *

Twilight Imperium, while it was a relatively new the personification of Great Britain couldn't help but had to admit that it had rapidly become one of his very favorite games to play. It was an empire's game. One that allowed him to use all the skills of negotiation, the subterfuge, the war planning that he had cultivated for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, the shear intensity of the game meant that it was difficult to convince other people to play with him.

England had been in a really good mood the past week because he had managed to a round of his favorite game at the world meeting. This was a feat because it was challenging for any of them to carve out the 6 to 18 (depending on the number of players) hours to play. He had been so thrilled that he hadn't bothered to look at the list of participants who were coming over to his house until it was already too late.

At a quarter to nine Sealand burst into England normally calm home without even bothering to knock. The micronation took a good look at the board game and then instead that the sea fortress played the Mentak Coalition. England tried to argue that he always played space pirates when he played the game, only to have Sealand begin to swear at him on the top of his lungs. The argument ended when America cracked his front door in half on the first knock and then promptly claimed England's second choice in race, the lionoid Emirates of Hacan, as his own. A migraine already starting to develop behind his eyes, England settled on playing the Universities of Jol-Nar. Even though they were a fairly wimpy races as far as fire power, they were at least educated.

The actual game play went just about as smoothly as the race selection. Within two turns America was already complaining that he was both bored and confused. Sealand on the other hand had grasped the game mechanics and seemed to be trying to disrupt game play in every way that he could. It took all of England's skill to keep the game from being completely derailed and to convince Sealand to stop poking holes in his sofa.

By hour two England had already vowed that next time he was going to have to drag a few of the Nordics into play. Norway and Sweden both knew the joy of being an empire, both could think on their feet. This meant that even though the Nordics would insist that England provide them with high quality coffee and probably drinks all of his beer, the former empire would at least be challenged. A challenge that was worthy of his participation, England corrected himself as he watched America dare Sealand to put one of the cargo ship pieces up his nose.

"I think that this game may have outstayed its welcome. Why don't we declare it a draw and go do something else."

"Oh come on England. That is totally unepic!" America said with such feeling that for a few short moments England had hope that the game could successfully be played to its conclusion. But then his former colony opened his mouth again that that hope was dashed. "I am clearly the winner."

England snapped.

"No you are not the winner." The former empire ranted. "I do not know if you are capable of sitting through this game let alone winning it. You are an idiotic fool with the attention span of a goldfish." England slammed his hand against the table sending pieces flying and the stopped out of the room to find a secluded spot to cool off.

"Man, England totally has a stick up his butt today."America said with a shrug as he started to put the game away.

"Who cares?" Sealand said flicking one of the plastic starships across the room. "We should totally trash his kitchen."

* * *

_**End Note-**__If you have never played it, yes Twilight Imperium really does take between 6 and 18 hours to complete. Among my group of friends Twilight Imperium is known a game worthy of Antarctica because it is a great game to play if you are trapped at the South Pole all winter or are wait out a blizzard. This said, if they people you are playing with don't have a long attention span (think America) or are not trapped with you (think Sealand) it will be an uphill battle to play to completion. _

_**Next Game**_-Dodge Ball-_There are some games where surrender isn't an option…but that won't stop Northern Italy from trying._


	15. Dodgeball

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone. I hope everything is going well for you…well, I don't have a whole lot to say so let's get to the thank yous. Thanks to C, Typical America, Saoirsewolf, and EverythingMath for being the wonderful reviewers that you are. Now on to the story!_

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, nor did I come up with the idea for dodgeball. As a child who grew up wearing glasses I always thought purposely throwing balls at other people was a bad idea._

* * *

**Dodgeball **

* * *

Every couple of years, the world's nations would compete in the Continent vs Continent Dodgeball tournament. Since WWII the tournament had proven to be an important stress relieve valve. After all it a week where everyone could get their hostilities towards other countries by pummeling them with balls instead of declaring war. This year the first round of the tournament was between South America and Europe.

"Okay, everyone knows the rules to the game." South Africa, this rounds referee said after blowing a shrill whistle. "All nations belonging to Europe will be staying on the north end of the gymnasium, South Americans will be on the south end. As that happens to be the hemisphere you are located in, I expect you will be able to remember that. You will stay on your half of the play field. You are out if a nation hits you with the ball, or another nation catches the ball you just thrown. You will not purposely throw a ball at another nations head, you will not purposely throw your ball at another nations vital regions, and if you throw a ball hard enough that you injure a nation to the point that they are unable to leave the playing field under their own power you will also be out. Everyone understand the rules?"

There was a choir of yeses in various languages.

"Good." South Africa nodded sharply. "I expect everyone to play a good game."

The whistle sounded and the moment the balls started flying it was clear South America actually had a planned game plan. The Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations were targeting Europe's strongest players. Switzerland and Finland both fell under a hail of incoming bombs. England was taken out by a smug looking Argentina moments later. By the time a quarter of Europe's nations had fallen, Italy was already waving one of his gym socks in the air as though it was a white flag.

"Italy stop that." Germany snapped. "You can't surrender in dodgeball."

"That isn't going to stop me from trying." The southern European nation squeaked as he ducked behind Lithuanian just in time to avoid a ball heading his way. It smashed into the Baltic State leg sending him sprawling.

"Feliciano, this isn't very sportsman like." Was the last thing that Germany got the chance to utter before a ball caught his upper arm and he was out.

Eventually the European countries gained a bit of a foot hold. The remaining Baltic Nations took out the Central American countries before being slammed by Bolivia. Poland managed to remove Argentina from game place. The game was down to four nations, Chile and Brazil from South America and Sweden and Italy from Europe, when a ball aimed for Italy managed to smash into Sweden's glasses. The tall nation hit the ground like a bag of rocks. South Africa blew the whistle and paused the game.

"Sweden, how many fingers am I holding up?" South Africa asked as leading over the Nordic nation, but a stream of jumbled syllables. "Finland, get your butt over here and translate what he is trying to say to us."

Finland jogged over and after listening to Sweden's babbling for a moment he shrugged. "I think he might have a concussion cause what he is saying doesn't making a lick of sense."

"Severe injury foul." South Africa said pointing at the offending nation. "Chile you are out."

Once Sweden had been cleaned up off the floor there were only two nations on the gymnasium floor. Brazil threw balls at Italy like a pitching machine. Italy ducked and dived, each time avoiding one of the balls hurtling towards him, but the cheerful nation didn't noticed that he was being backed into the corner. Finally, Italy was backed against the way. Brazil took aim and threw the ball perfectly. There was no way that Italy was going to be able to duck it this time…then Italy caught Brazil's ball.

"Brazil out!" South Africa howled. "Europe wins!"

The European nations thundered out of the save zone swarming the gymnasium in their celebratory dance. The South American nations also came out, but with significantly less enthusiasm. Nations who had just been trying to cause harm to each other moments before congratulated each other for particularly good plays.

"That was an awesome game." Uruguay said giving Germany a bear hug. "Do you think that Europe would be up for a rematch?

Germany glanced over at Italy, still standing frozen on the gymnasium floor gripping the winning ball and shook his head. "While another game would be fun, I don't know if Feliciano would survive it."

* * *

_**End Note**__-Run Italy, run!_

_**Next Chapter**_-Cricket-_India, Australia, South Africa, and a number of the other members of the commonwealth were officially cricket obsessed. Canada wants to share in his siblings excitement, but to be honest he has no clue how to make heads or tails of the game._


	16. Cricket

_**Author's Note**__\- Hello everybody, well it looks like the last chapter didn't go over smoothly. It seemed like people had a hard time believing that South America could wipe out Europe as easily as they did during the dodgeball. To be honest, if I hadn't seen equally lopsided play end with the smaller team winning on more than one occasion I would have probably ended up in your boat as well. Usually what gives the small team the upper hand is that they have room to duck and move the large team is packed in so tight they don't have that option. As long as they take out the big teams strong players right at the beginning, the game is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. Well, now that the explanation has been taken care off, a quick shout out to the wonderful reviewers that left messages about last week's story, thank you to Kaiser Josh and saoirsewolf for leaving comments. It really means a ton. Oh, and before I forget. Today's story was requested by Guest, who wanted an excuse for India to show up. Hope you all enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia nor do I understand Cricket. I did try to understand but after about 3 hours of trying to decipher the rules so that I could write this story I kind of gave up. _

* * *

**Cricket**

* * *

In many ways Canada felt kind of isolated from the rest of the world. Yes he had a close relationship with America, but half the time his twin treated him like one of the states instead of as an equal. Germany got all uncomfortable looking whenever they were alone each other in the same room, which probably meant that Canada's sniper exploits during WWI and WWII was still giving the nation nightmares. Russia kept on ignoring all international boundaries and China kept on spying on him despite Canada repeatedly asking him not to. Oh, and half the time England didn't even notice that he was in the room. So even though Canada showed up to all his meetings and tried to participate in the world, sometimes he got lonely. His solution, reach out to some of his other siblings.

It was difficult for Canada to figure out why he hadn't reached out to his fellow members of the commonwealth earlier. After all he had so much in common like having the same queen and all kind of spoke the same English…well to be honest the one thing that they all had in common was the fact that they were all occupied by the British Empire at some point that had to count for something right? Wrong. It turned out that many of his fellow commonwealth nations didn't want to discuss that 'dark period' in their history.

This meant that Canada was back to the drawing board. Madly searching his siblings Wikipedia profiles he tried to find a common thread that could tie them all together. The thing that seemed to bind the commonwealth together appeared to be the game Cricket. Unfortunately this was a game that Canada knew nearly nothing about. Gathering his courage, Canada decided that was going to have to ask the commonwealth nations to explain it to him.

"Hey, Jett, do you have a moment?" Canada asked as he approached commonwealth table at the World Headquarters' cafeteria.

"Sure mate." Australia said making space for Canada next to him. "What do you need?"

Canada took a deep breath then asked his question. "I was wondering if you could teach me how to play Cricket." The commonwealth countries looked at him with slightly agape expressions and suddenly Canada felt the need to start back peddling. "If it is not a good time or if you don't want to do that it is totally okay. I really don't want to be an inconvenience…"

"It is not that bro." West Indies shrugged. "It is just we never knew you were interested. If we would have known we would have brought you up to speed decades ago."

"How much do you know about Cricket?" India asked, giving the North American her full attention.

"Almost nothing." Canada admitted shyly.

"Well let's start at the beginning then. As you know Cricket is a bat and ball game…" Was how Australia began, and that was just about where Canada got lost. He listened to the commonwealth throw words like bowler and batsman, pitch, overs, and test cricket. By hour two Canada's poor head was so filled with unconnected facts about the sport of Cricket he kind of wanted to find a closet to curl up an hid in.

"So do understand the game a bit better?" South Africa's rich purr interrupted Canada's confused daze.

"I guess?" Canada he stammered out not knowing what else to say, but that was enough to get the commonwealths excited.

"Are going to join us at the next game?" India asked her bright eyes with hope. In fact the other commonwealth nations were all giving him the same look and all Canada head was spinning with the challenge of finding a way to let his siblings down softly. Eventually, he decided that honesty was probably the best policy.

"You know what?" Canada said with a shrug. "I think I will stick to hockey."

* * *

_**End Note-**__After trying to make heads or tails of Cricket for this post I totally agree with Canada. We should all just stick with Hockey. ;)_

**Next Game**-Dominion-_When America stumbles upon the European powers duking it out during a game of Dominion, England decided that wearing his occult robes to the game night might not have been the best clothing choice. _


	17. Dominion

_**Author's Note**__-Hey everyone, this has been a particular hectic week for me. I just started a brand new job designing STEM curriculum for schools. I have a feeling it is going to keep me rather busy, but that isn't going to stop me from writing fanfiction. I simply enjoy it too much, but if I don't post as often as you would like, my job is probably why. Next order of business, thank you to HappyAnt21, EverythingMath, and Saoirsewolf for your feedback on last week's chapter, and a huge thank you to EverythingMath for suggesting the game spotlighted in this week's story. I hope everyone enjoys it. _

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia, but I do play Dominion on occasion._

* * *

**Dominion**

* * *

"I curse you!" England shouted with enthusiasm. "I curse your ports and industry, but most of all I curse your progress that it might be sent back to the Stone Age." The former empire cackled as he threw the card on the table.

"Iggy…" America his eyes wide as he peaked down the stairs into England's basement.

"What?" England snapped, has he rose from his seat his occult robes billowing around him. He had lost the last couple rounds and the Brit felt no shame taking out some of his built up frustration on his former colony.

"Never mind." America muttered eyes widening.

England took a deep breath and tried to give a more reasoned response to the situation. "Really America you went to the bother of coming to find me, there is clearly something you want."

"Nope. I am great, in fact I think I should…I need to go wash my hair. Yeah, that is it, my hair really needs to get washed." The Super Power said with a nervous grin plastered to his face before turning and sprinting down the hall. Before he was out of ear shot, England could hear America informing his twin to run. "Mathew, Iggy is summoning the devil again!"

With another sigh, England settled himself back down at the card table. Before the gathered nations could resume their game there as a soft knock on the door and quiet footsteps on the stairs.

"Arthur, do you have any clue what is going on? I just ran into America and he was practically screaming bloody murder." Canada rolled his eyes in exasperation as he spoke.

"He caught us playing dominion again." France said with a shrug.

"Oh, which version?" The Arctic nation asked his interest clearly peeked.

"Seaside." Germany rumbled from the card table.

"Is there room for another player?" Canada asked timidly.

"I do believe so." A broad smile spread across England's face. "Why don't you come and join us?"

* * *

_**End Note-**Where I live the phrase 'I need to go wash my hair,' is considered a polite way of saying 'I really don't want to be here right now.' I thought it was appropriate for America in that particular situation.__  
_

_**Disclaimer**_-Kudoda-_South Korea is fascinated by a game he saw Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Kenya playing during one of the World conference breaks. He decides to join in and discovers the game was far harder then it first appeared._


	18. Kudoda

_**Author's Note**__-I have noticed that I have been writing a lot of stories about England, America, and Canada. As much as I adore writing for those three, I am going to do my best to give some of the other countries a bit more screen time. Today for example, manages to avoid any references to not only North America but also Europe. __ Hopefully EverythingMath and Saoirsewolf (the reviewers of last week's story) will forgive me for that. ;)_

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia and I didn't knock myself out while I figured out how to play this game._

* * *

**Kudoda**

* * *

The game couldn't be too difficult. After all South Korea had watched Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe pull out the bowl of stones during world conference breaks for over a century. This afternoon South Korea decided that he would actually try his hand at playing Kudoda so when the African nations pulled out the tools of game play during lunch, he walked up and requested to join them.

"Do you mind if I play?"

"I guess…"Kenya muttered.

"Great." South Korea flopped down in the circle of bodies.

"So do you want us to explain how to play?" Zimbabwe asked.

"Nope." South Korea said with confidence. "It is a game where you toss a rock and then pick up a bunch of other rocks. How complicated could the game be?"

The other three nations glanced at each other first in surprise then in amusement. They all had a feeling that things were about to get entertaining.

"Why don't you go first?" Tanzania pushed the bowl towards the overly enthusiastic nation with a wry smile.

South Korea gave his thanks, and then selected the largest stone to toss in the air. The Asian nation's nimble fingers meant he did a pretty good job snatching up pebbles. Unfortunately, he was so focused on the task in front of him he failed to play attention to the danger from above until it was too late. By the time the falling rock collided with his skull he didn't even have the time to wonder what hit him.

* * *

The three African Nations started at South Korea, face down in the bowl of scattered marbles for a few long heart beats before one of them finally figured out something to say.

"So what do we do now?" Kenya asked casually.

Zimbabwe shrugged. "Eventually he will either wake up or one of the other Asian countries will come looking for him. Either way, we have a meeting to get to and South Korea really isn't our problem."

* * *

_**End Note-**__If you decide to play this game, I suggest you play it with pompoms. You can't toss things around as easily, but they hurt a whole lot less than rocks when they hit you in the head._

_**Next Game**__-_Musical Chairs_\- Italy and Holy Rome play musical chair, leaving Austria a bit perplexed. _


	19. Musical Chairs

_**Author's Note-**__ Hello everyone, today I have a delightfully fluffy piece for you delight. But first thank you to C and Saoirsewolf for their reviews. I am glad that they enjoyed South Korea's appearance. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or Austria's incredible musical ability, in fact I am quite tone deaf._

* * *

**Musical Chairs**

* * *

_Upstairs…_

Nether Italy or Holy Rome knew where the picked the game up. It might have been from one of the other countries that were occupied by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire or it could have simply been from one of the many parties that Austria hosted. Regardless of where the two nations had discovered the game, every Saturday afternoon when Austria would shoo his young charges out the door so that he could practice his musical skills, Italy and Holy Rome would run up to sitting room directly above the music room.

When the first strains of music were produced, the two would begin run and dance around the room. Then as suddenly as the music started it would stopped, causing both Italy and Holy Rome to try to clamor onto the sturdy wooden chair they had placed in the center of the room.

* * *

_Downstairs…_

"Hungary, do you have any clue what Italy and Holy Rome are doing upstairs?" Austria asked his wife about the strange noises coming from ceiling as he took a short break from composing music.

"No dear." Hungary said not even bothering to look up from her embroidery. "But whatever they are doing it appears that they are having fun."

"Hopefully not too much fun. I do hope that the art will all be in one piece when I finish down here." Austria sighed as he made a notation on his sheet music.

"They have made the same noises for months and have yet to break anything. So I would stop your worrying."

Hungary's words didn't seem to have much of an effect on Austria's mood. The German nation gave a huff of disapproval, then he picked up his bow and began to play again. The patter of steps on the upper floors once again resumed.

* * *

_Upstairs…._

With the start of the music, the game resumed. Italy chased Holy Rome, who chased Italy in turn. They ran around and around the wooden chair until the music once again stopped and then they raced each other to see who would sit first on the seat cushion. All things considered, a pleasant afternoon.

* * *

_**End Note-**_ _And the music played on…_

_**Next Game**_-The Hunter-_Countries of the Middle East were often misunderstood. In today's media they were destructive, hateful, and backwater. What most people forgot that was that despite their bitter arguments most of the Middle Eastern countries considered each other to be family._


	20. The Hunter

_**Author's Note-**__ Warning, this piece is a bit more artsy and a lot more political than many of my other writings. I have always been fascinated by the schism between history and cultural perception. As we have watched the Arab Spring occur in the Middle East news reporters often speak about the history of civilization in the region, but they have spent almost no time discussing why the modern nations have the boundaries that they do. Thus I decided to explore this subject using an ancient game from the Middle East region called Hunter. But before we into the deep topics thank you to Guest and Everythingmath for enjoy the fluffiness of the last chapter. _

**Disclaimer-** _I do not own Hetalia, nor do I claim to be an expert in Middle Eastern politics. I have just read a lot of historical documents that I have found gives some insight into what is happening in the world right now._

* * *

**The Hunter**

* * *

The Middle East liked to play up the illusion that they were as old as civilization itself. After all, the seeds of modern culture had been planted in the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It was an illusion that Western nations often indulged as a method of soothing their own guilt. For while everyone pretended that the nations of the Middle East drew their strength from the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians but the actual national boundaries were vestiges of colonialism. The cracks in the in the façade were starting to show.

"_Wahid!" Libya shouted and his various siblings scattered to the four winds, each nation trying to find a hiding place._

Nation's who had gained their independence less than 60 years ago were starting to fall apart. Conflicts arose as artificial boundaries caused enmity between hundreds of years old cultures. Dictators who had prevented such conflicts in the past through suffocating descent, brutality, and bread money were being over thrown.

"_Ithnaan!" As the count continued the older, more experience nations such as Turkey and Iran were dashed away from the center, leaving the younger ones in their wake. _

The western world cheered as the first governments fell. After all, they thought, these actions could only lead these types of communities to create western style democracy. In their eyes everyone should strive to look like them. But they often forgot that the democratic government was as unique as the country that birthed it. Just as the government of the United States differed from that of the United Kingdom, so would the governments of Egypt, Iraq, and Libya differ from their former colonial masters.

"_Thalaatha!" The younger ones stumbled as they scrambled over the rocky ground. Even some of the older ones, whose roots were once defined by diversity struggled to keep their footing. _

But before a stable government could be formed in any of the countries affected by the Arab Spring, the populations of those countries would have to reach consensus and consensus would prove to be a very difficult thing to create. This was due to the fact that countries such as England and France created the Middle East's national boundaries to encourage in fighting verse wars across nations.

"_Arba'a!"_

The world debated about what they should do about the situation in the Middle East. Some nation's sided with governments, other with rebels. America and Russia through their weight around the arena in a dance that they had perfected in the depth of the Cold War. They used the young nations of the Middle East as chess pieces to play a proxy war that no one wanted to admit existed. As diplomats fought in Switzerland and New York, things only got worse on the ground.

"_Khamsa!"_

Religious and cultural minorities were suffering under the new orders. While many of these groups had been considered second class citizens under the old regimes, now they found themselves without any recourse. They are left with the question. Do you stay

"_Sitta!"_

Faith was twisted. Hundreds of year old fatwas were pulled out of the history books and given a modern context that had little to do with it ancient roots. Branches of Islam sprung up in the chaos, branches that were rooted in hatred and the charisma of a few key leaders rather than the scriptures they claimed to follow.

"_Sab'a!"_

Women became property, children something to be left on the wayside, men inconvenient obstacles. The value of human life was lost. Explosives strapped to girls too young to understand what was going grew in popularity. Mass graves in the desert sands common place. Bombs rained from the sky. A generation of youths stripped of their childhoods by war. Entire communities nearly erased from existence.

"_Thamania!"_

The history of a region was being smashed. The statues of great empires were destroyed as false idols. The Sunni-Shia divide was deepen by the debate about depictions of the prophets. On one side used the hadith to argue that those types of images should never exist, on the other pointed out that there was a wealth of Hadith text which tolerated and even a few that encouraged the followers of Islam to meditate on images of the Prophet. As the debate continued the Qur'an stood silent and a religion's great libraries stood in limbo.

"_Tiss'a!" Countries which only moments earlier had seemed sure footed, lost their balance as their neighbors clung to them._

The violence that had consumed the cross roads of the continents ignored the boundaries of nations. Technology became the new method of social change. Some tried to use the tools as a method of peaceful protest and debate, but these community building actions were often overshadowed by the other organizations that used their resources to spread fear, terror, and radicalization across the internet. In the 24 hour news world, the stories of millions of people striving to peacefully rebuild their shattered lives were quickly replaced by the narrative of masked men with guns.

"_'Ashra!_" _Libya shouted uncovering his eyes and bolted after the fleeing nations. Gradually capturing them one by one, in the end most he caught most of his siblings but a few made it pass his grasp. Libya had failed to win the game and so he was doomed to repeat it._

The Middle East was trapped in a violent stalemate, and it was possible that the only solution to save the region would be to once again wipe the map clean and start again. But that was a solution that most of the world's nations had no to even consider. So the world watched as the Middle East tried to redefine itself.

"_Reset!" Libya shouted and his fellow nations once again scattered. Each nation moving in their own direction, just like they were doing on the international stage..._

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Too often the bitterest fights are caused by history that most have forgotten. This was a complicated subject to try to tackle. I hope that you learned something new reading this. If there is anything that was confusing or you would like some additional references leave a review or shot me a p.m. and I will try to point you in the direction of a helpful reference._

_**Next Game-**_Tetris-_The Cold War may have ended over two decades ago, but that wasn't going hamper America's and Russia's competitive streaks. _


	21. Tetris

_**Author's Note**__\- Hello everyone, well it seemed like I missed a step on last week's piece, but that is okay because I have a feeling that you will find today's entertaining. Oh, just as a heads up, I used a little bit of information that I introduced in 50 Apps Every State Needs. It is as following Americat regularly uses iPads._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia nor the rights to any Soviet Era computer games…though I do play them on occasion._

* * *

**Tetris**

* * *

Even though Russia would never admit it to the rest of the world, he really enjoyed the love/hate relationship he shared with the uppity, North American superpower. It was just so fun to harass the United States because America took things so literally. But as much as Russia enjoyed making fun of America at world meetings there was one thing that the former Soviet desperately wanted to beat him at…Tetris.

Tetris had been a beautiful Soviet creation. A game created under communism which America then practically stolen and then distributed using his capitalist ways. Russia wanted to take his game back and he was willing to go to great lengths to make that happen. This is why he was sitting at his home computer on Sunday morning pouring through Tetris base code trying to find loopholes.

Yes, modifying the game to give Russia the upper hand could be viewed as cheating, but he didn't have a problem with that. Cheating wasn't particularly moral, but neither was bribery or government corruption and as long as that kind of stuff was built into the fabric morals were kind of irrelevant. It also wasn't Russia's problem that America was too stupid and trusting to realize that the game was rigged against him.

The former superpower hummed happily to himself Now if he programmed the game to start America at level 130 while it began him at level 1, clearly he should be the last one standing in the showdown scheduled for the next world meeting.

* * *

Meanwhile halfway across the world…

"Alfred, what in the world are you doing?" Canada groaned as he tried to rub the blurriness out of his eyes. He was visiting Washington D.C. for border negotiations and had stay the night at America's house. This had proven to be a mistake when he was awoken at 3 in the bloody morning by his twin brother pounding away at his computer.

"Updating my tetris playing computer program." The American didn't bother looking up from the computer screen.

"You're what?"

"The computer program that I have that insures that I always beat Russia at tetris." America pointed to a second computer whose screen was covered in falling geometric shapes.

"Isn't that cheating?" Canada asked not believing what he was hearing.

"Not when Russia keeps hacking into the games base code and making his version of the game easier and mine a gazillion times harder."

"So you're both cheating." Canada said, not bothering to hide his eye roll.

"Pretty much, but the goal has never really been to win the game." America shrugged. "After a while it has developed into a game a wills verses an actual game of skill…unless you count our hacking skills I guess."

"So how do you know that Russia has been hacking the game?"

"Oh, I have been hacking his computer for years." The Superpower said brightly as he typed a few keys on his computer and pulled up a view of a remote computer. "See, this is Russia's home desktop and he is currently using to alter the levels on the game of tetris that we are both playing!"

"Alfred!"

"What?" America stammered startled. "If you don't believe me I can turn on his webcam, but I can't guarantee it will be pretty. Honestly Ivan is nearly as bad as Putin when he is home. I don't think he knows how to wear a shirt in his house and his chest is totally blinding white."

Canada had to take a deep breath to keep himself from tearing out his hair and screaming. "We have already had this conversation. It is not appropriate to hack the computers of friendly governments."

"I haven't hacked Germany's or England's computer systems for over a year and a half." America said defensively. "Besides Russia hacked me first and it is only because my states are very particular when it comes to cyber security that I was able to catch him before he could stick his fingers into stuff he had no business knowing. Currently, I have been keeping him distracted by letting him see what Americat is up to on his ipad."

"And he hasn't caught on?" Canada asked dubiously.

"Nope. Right now he is trying figured out why I keep on ordering obscene amounts of bird seed." Alfred glared at Americat who at least had the good sense to look a tad bit guilty as it tried to brush away the feathers sticking out of the side of its mouth.

All Canada could do was shake his head and walk away. There were some aspects of international politics that he had no desire to ever stick his fingers into and the rivalry between his twin and Russia had no desire to ever understand.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- I will admit that I bought my cat a bird feeder. But unlike Americat, she is an inside cat so the feeder provides her with something to watch while I am at work. Also, is it kind of terrible that I really want to read a Hetalia comic about America and Russia hacking each other's computers?_

_**Next Game**_\- Simons Says- _When Simon de Montfort captured King Henry the III a new game sprouts up in England, but Italy doubts the game is a new as it first seems._


	22. Simon Says

_**Author's Note-**__Hello all. Not much to say today. Hope you all enjoy today's story. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia nor have I held hostage any members of the British Monarchy. I haven't even seen a member of said monarchy in person._

* * *

**Simon Says**

* * *

The game was humiliating, but the children playing in the dirty city streets didn't seem to care. The urchins called orders of 'Simon says touch your nose,' or 'Simon says take three steps.' Occasionally they would interject a statement of 'stand on one foot' to determine how well their fellow children were listening to their leader. As England watched the children competing at their game, he had to resist the urge to box their ears. But these children were innocent little things and the nation doubted that they understood the games political undertone.

Glancing at his European visitor, England suspected that the games true meaning was not lost on his fellow nation though. The Italian's eyes held a touch of sadness as he watched the game of Simon says. He seemed to understand just how much it hurt the island nation to know the French noble Simon de Montfort had captured the British king and that the whole government was now a puppet to the whims of a foreigner.

"Oh, don't worry." The overly cheerful Italian tried to comfort him. "That game has been around for ages and its name keeps on changing. In fact, when my Grandfather was a live it was called Caesar Says and you don't hear it being called that any more do you?"

While the Italian's comment made sense, but England couldn't keep shake the feeling that this time would be different. That this defeat by the French would forever be immortalized and England would be forced to be reminded of it every single time he was forced to watch children play the game.

* * *

**End Note-** _It's okay England. You will get your King back…eventually…but unfortunately the name is here to stay._

_**Next Game-**_ Paintball- _It was a battle to the death…well at least it was figuratively. _


	23. Paintball

_**Author's Note-**__ Hello everybody, I hope that you are having a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/man I should really get some sleep sometime tonight. Today we have a piece which I will admit was a whole lot of fun to write. Hopefully you will find it a lot of fun to read. And a quick thanks to Marzue for leaving such a wonderful review. Reviews like that really do help keep me modivated to keep writing. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia nor do I own a paint gun._

* * *

**Paintball**

* * *

When the World Council decided to have a paintball competition, the very first order of business was to determine who was going to be banded. Pretty much everyone agreed that neither America nor Russia should be allowed to play. If the two really wanted to go destroy a forest through acts of competitive brute strength, America and Russia could go do that on their own time and their own bill.

A chunk of nations, primarily lead by Prussia also decided that both Canada and Finland should also be banned. The goal of the game was to have a fun afternoon ignoring paperwork and world affairs, not to give anyone recurring nightmares. Finland made a half hearted argument about why he should be allowed to play, but when Sweden made a comment about Sealand being busy participating in the competition and whispered something into the Finns ear the Nordic nation blushed and commented that he was okay with being excluded. Canada tried to make a more vocal argument about playing, but as no one in the room seemed to notice that he was there the argument was completely ignored.

The morning of the paintball competition countries were randomly assigned equipment that was marked with one of four colors. When it was announced that each color represent a team, the teams quickly became unrandomized as nation's swapped so that they were grouped with nations they could actually stand working with. This is how most of Western Europe ended up wearing the color purple.

As long as there were players wearing other colors, the purple team did pretty well playing as a cohesive unit. There was of course the moment when Prussia had made a particularly idiotic comment and had been quickly taken out by both Switzerland and Germany, but other than that people focused their attention on the 'enemy'. Then Japan had been taken out and there was no more 'enemies' to take out. All bets were off, it was time for the sudden death round.

Switzerland quickly took the lead. He shot his former allies with lethal accuracy born over centuries of defending his borders. He took out the best shots first. Taking out Germany and England, Austria and Norway without a second thought. He had just finished off the two Italys who were still waving those idiotic white flags and was about spin around and take out the very last player when he felt the most impact of a paintball hitting him in the back.

"Bruder, bruder, I won. I won! We were the very last people in the game and I shot you so that means that I WON!" Liechtenstein practically bubbled. She was so excited that she didn't even notice that Switzerland didn't say a word, just shook his head in disbelief. Liechtenstein had won the game fair and square. And Switzerland learned a valuable lesson that day. It turns out that unlike in war, in paintball it was the innocent looking ones you really had to watch out for.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Well, now you know to avoid Liechtenstein whenever she is armed with a paintball gun. Lol._

_**Next Game-**_Downton the Hatch!-_ It didn't take long for England to realized that the only way he was going to convince many of the world's nations to watch Downton Abby with him was to turn the activity into a drinking game. Honestly one of my friends forwarded this 'game' to me and I couldn't resist writing about it. _


	24. Downton The Hatch

_**Author's Note**__\- Hello everyone, once again I have written a piece which is not particularly child friendly but is hopefully entertaining for adults of all maturity levels. But before we get to the drinking game a huge shout out to the last chapters various reviewers. Thanks to rednightmares, The Monster inside of Me, Supergrassaysyaaasss, Guest, Marzue, and Missingwings. I am glad you all enjoyed it._

_**Disclaimer-**__ CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DOWNTON ABBEY…also I do not own Hetalia, Downton Abbey, nor do I play any drinking games…at least any drinking games involving alcohol..._

* * *

**Downton The Hatch**

* * *

"Will there be beer?"

It should have sent alarm bells going off in England's head the moment that Prussia said it, but he was so overjoyed by the fact that he finally convinced a country to watch the Downton Abbey Christmas Special he ignored the slightly disconcerting feeling was fluttering at the back of his brain. He didn't even bat an eye when Prussia managed to convince a large percentage of Europe to join the fun or when the German speaking nation brought several kegs of beer with him. After all, what could be better then beer, friends and Downton Abbey?

Then when everyone had gathered around in England's living room the full effect of his mistake hit him full in the face. Prussia was planning on using his Downton Abbey party to play a drinking game. England was about to kick them all out when Norway of all people convinced him to at least play along for the first 5 minutes.

Within the first 30 minutes everyone on the room was completely smashed…

* * *

England woke up the next morning with the feeling that a heavy metal band was playing drums on his skull and his mouth tasting like he had spent the night chewing on gym shoes. His foot was asleep because Prussia was sprawled a crossed it and he suspected that the wet spot on his shoulder was probably caused by Denmark drooling on him. Still he felt too hangover to really want to move, so he tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Then he was reminded about what had caused him to wake him up in the first place. Someone was pounding on the front door.

"Go away!" He yelled.

"I can't do that." The bright familiar voice said from the other side and it was clear that England was not going to be able to convince him to go away. Reluctantly picked himself off the sitting room floor, walked down the hall, and slowly opened the door a crack.

"Alfred."

"Hey Arthur," America said bounding on the doorstep "I am totally sorry that about having to miss your party last night. How did it go?"

"Great." The British Empire racked his brain to try to figure out a way convince the chipper American to go away so that he could sleep off his hangover.

"So what did you think of the part where they totally killed off Mathew in that massive car crash at the end of the episode leaving Lady Mary a widow right after she had given birth to a baby boy and completely cliff hangers ever one?" America said in practically one breath.

"America?" It took all of England's energy to keep voice level.

"Yes." The Superpower answered.

"Go stuff a sock in it." England glared at his former colony before slamming the door in America's face. He was going to have to convince the BBC to let him have a copy of the episode, because he so needed to watch it before he was forced to endure any more spoilers.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Who knows if England will finally learn that you are not going to remember the Christmas Special if you don't binge drink during it. _

_**Next Game-**_ Captain's Mistresses- _Sweden nearly has a panic attack when France invites Sealand to play a game of Captain's Mistresses until he figured out how the game was actually played._


	25. The Captain's Mistresses

_**Author's Note-**__ A short story today as am currently madly doing the embroidery for a good friends cosplay outfit, but next week's should be longer and a whole lot of fun so hopefully you will forgive me. Also thank you Marzue and Missingwings for leaving lovely reviews. It really helps keep my motivation up when life gets chaotic. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, and while I do claim to be a Captain I do not have any mistresses._

* * *

**The Captain's Mistresses**

* * *

Sweden knew that something was wrong the moment he woke up from a soothing afternoon nap, but it took a few moments for his groggy mind to catch up with what it was. The problem it turned out to be silence. The hotel suite that he was sharing with the other Nordic nations was unnaturally quiet…a quiet that usually meant that Sealand was up to something. With no other choice the tall nation dragged himself out of bed and tried to figure out the root of the problem.

"W're 's Seal'nd?" Sweden asked the first nation in the suite who he saw awake.

"I don't know?" Iceland shrugged as he continued to chuck popcorn and practically comatose Demark on the sprawled across the couch cushions.

"France picked him up about an hour ago." Norway commented flatly as he handed Iceland a new bowl of freshly popped popcorn and settled down on one of the arm chairs to watch the show. "He mentioned something about playing with mistresses, I think."

Sweden had to take a few deep breaths to keep from seeing red. "'d y'u d'n't st'p 'em?"

Norway shrugged. "They are down in the lobby if you want to go interrupt them."

Sweden had stomped out.

* * *

Under normal circumstances France would have never consider an afternoon spent in the company of Sealand a day well spent, but when he had arrived at the Nordic's hotel rooms to find Demark dead to the world drunk France had taken what little company he could get. When he had allowed the boy to tag along he though perhaps he could tweak England's ire, but it seemed like his action managed to attract a much taller fish. This could be fun.

"Settle down, sir." France smirked up at the livid Nordic who was towering above him. He motioned at the wooden Connect-Four game that was resting half played on the lobby coffee table. As France watched the other nation's expression flicker from anger to confusion to distrust he continued. "We are simply playing round of Captain's Mistresses."

"S'land, l'ts g't ic'cr'm." Sweden countered and Sealand instantly lost all interest in the game and was bouncing on the balls of his feet rattling off what he wanted to order. As the tall Nordic and the Micronation, France decided that this afternoon hadn't been a lost cause. He was going to have to invite Sealand into playing games again in the near future because it turned out that Sweden was nearly as fun to tease as England.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ I agree with you Sweden. France and Sealand in one room seem like a really bad combination…in fact France and pretty much anyone stuck in the same room would probably also be a bad combination. LOL_

_**Next Game**__\- _Catchphrase_\- The Commonwealth nations decided to play catchphrase and Canada decides to invite America to come along. Turns out twins totally rock at the game, but are they cheating?_


	26. Catchphrase

_**Author's Note**__\- First things first, this story was requested Marzue. If would also like to request a game to be put in the writing cue please either pm me or leave the suggestion in a review. I really do my best to write your requests. Secondly, huge thanks to Marzue and Missingwings for leaving a review for the last story. Now that that has been taken care of on to the Canadian epicness. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or Catchphrase nor do I encourage anyone to find creative ways to cheat at games._

* * *

**Catchphrase**

* * *

It kind of felt like the commonwealth was ignoring him and it was starting to drive Canada a bit batty. Now that his siblings hand learned that he wasn't ever going to share their obsession with cricket they had started to talk to each other using cricket metaphors. As far as the polar nation could tell the only thing more confusing than the game of cricket it was obtuse references to the game of cricket. It was time to put the commonwealth back in their place, but to do that Canada was going to need some help and when he got into trouble there was always one person he could count on.

"Alfred, what are you doing tonight?"

"I thought I would go back to the hotel and watch baseball…" The superpower said through sips of a supersized coke. Canada didn't let his brother finish the sentence as he grabbed hold of the southern twins tie causing coke to spill dramatically on the ground.

"You are coming to my hotel room to participate in a game night." Canada's tone left no room for argument, but that wasn't going to stop his brother from trying.

"Okay?" America finally stammered as he looked longingly at his lost drink. "Hm, why?"

"Because the commonwealth nations been purposely excluding me the last few weeks."

"So you want me to?" The southern twin cocked his head to one side trying to follow Canada's logic.

"Help me humiliate them using any means necessary."

"Oh, that sounds like it would be kind of fun." America relaxed slightly; he was particularly skilled at slowly driving members of the British Empire crazy. He had decades of experience doing it. "What time do you want me?"

"The carnage starts at 7:30." Canada practically cackled.

"Will meet you there." America said using his hero voice, but after a few seconds he added a bit timidly. "So I have agreed to come. Can you let go of my tie now?"

* * *

"How in the world are you two getting the answers so quickly?"

America and Canada tried to keep straight faces as they looked at each other. Then Canada smirked. "I guess we are just on the same brain wavelength or something."

The commonwealth verses the North American Twins continued with American and Canada completely trouncing the other nations. Over time several of the countries' expressions changed from amusement to anger to grudging respect for their peculiar sibling. Canada relished the attention as he pounded out win after win.

'_So should we mention to the others that when we are in close proximity we are practically telepathic?'_ America asked end of one of their team's turns through the deep bond that the two twins shared.

'_Naw.' _Canada thought in return after a few long moments as the other team tried to describe the word pickle to each other. Then the northern nation looked down at the puck like game that had just been put in his hands, he read the word and smiled. _'Alfred, the word the next word is Yoga.' _

Canada opened his mouth. "Stretch…"

"Yoga!" America shouted on the top of his lungs.

Canada passed the rapidly beeping Catchphrase game to the next player, and it timed out in Australia's hands before that continent nation had a chance to mutter a word.

* * *

_**End Note-**_ _America + Canada= A pretty unstoppable team...especially if they are cheating._

_**Next Game-**_Tick-Tack-Toe_ – Two words, Blame Prussia. Need I saw more. _


	27. Tick, Tack, Toe

_**Author's Note-**__ Wow, got a whole lot of great feedback on the last chapter. It seems like people enjoy it when Canada takes charge lol. Thank you BitterSweet Crazy, Fairy Tail Fanatic 4EVER, Missingwings, Guest and Marzue for leaving totally rocking reviews! Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter as well. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, nor do I encourage you to play this version of Tick, Tack, Toe. Law enforcement has a bad habit of getting involved when people do._

* * *

**Tick, Tack, Toe**

* * *

"Vash, will you play Tick, Tack, Toe with me?" Prussia asked for the 58th time this afternoon.

"For the umpteenth time, no." The Alpine nation growled without bothering to look up from his spreadsheets.

"Why don't you want to play with your friend?" Lichtenstein asked her eyes large and doe like. It was the look that she gave him whenever she was trying to butter him up. "It isn't nice to refuse to play with your friends."

"Fine." Switzerland huffed knowing that he had clearly lost. He looked levelly at Prussia. "We can play a round before meetings tomorrow, okay?"

"Perfect." Prussia practically purred before skipping off to annoy someone else finally allowing Switzerland to return his focus to figuring out how to convince the other countries to use his country's banking system instead of their petty national banks.

* * *

It took a few moments for Switzerland to figure out exactly what had woken him. The room was still dark and a glance at the bedside alarm clock indicated that he didn't need to get up for drills for at least two more hours. After nothing out of the usual occurred he assumed that one of the Nordics upstairs had come home drunk and fallen out of bed or something. With obvious danger he rolled over and went back to sleep.

* * *

When Switzerland next awoke both his alarm clock and his bladder informed him that it was time to get moving. He slammed the snooze button the top of the clock to keep the noise deafening him and stumbled towards the bathroom. He was so focused on his goal of getting to the toilet that he didn't even bother flipping on the lights. Something that he instantly regretted as his right foot connected with something cold and sharp.

The militaristic nation bit on his tongue to keep himself from screaming expletives on the top of his lungs as he flipped on the lights. The moment the blindingly bright light flickered to life Switzerland could see cause for his now bleeding foot. Someone had covered his bathroom floor with a thick covering of thumb tacks. This would be a bad situation under normal circumstances, but because of Switzerland's lack of coffee and very full bladder the nation was about ready to go on the warpath. Still he tried to be rational and took a few deep breaths.

Once he stopped seeing red Switzerland decided that his best option to get out the problem would be to grab a broom out of the closet. He limped across the floor, trying to ignore the trail he was creating in the carpet and the lost deposit such damage meant, opened that closet, and nearly choked. There was a brick on his foot! Switzerland stopped biting his tongue and starting cursing the air blue.

It was officially time to call for back up but that lead to a new problem. His cell phone was in his briefcase and his brief case was ticking. But at this point he really didn't care anymore. If his brief case exploded it exploded. Switzerland was after all immortal so there should be no reason to fear a puny bomb. He braced himself and flipped open the latch…only to get a face full of brightly colored glitter.

He didn't even care that he was currently wearing the pink PJ's that Lichtenstein had sew for him or that he was now covered in a thick coating of rainbow colored glitter. He wasn't going to spend another minute in this booby trapped room and if anyone laughed about his strange appearance he could always shoot them in the foot and see who would be laughing then.

Prussia was waiting outside of his hotel room door. The albino nation took one look at the neutral one and cackled away about totally wining that round Tick, Tack, Toe. Switzerland didn't even bother responding to him as he stomped to the UN clinic to get his wound taken care of. After a few

The same could not be said of Prussia whose house was no longer standing after Switzerland preempted him on the second round.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Poor Switzerland, sometimes I just have to shake my head and wonder about Prussia's sanity and I am totally allowed to do that because I am ethnic Prussian. _

_**Next Chapter-**_ One Man Hide and Seek- _It was Japan's idea, Italy went along with it, and now Germany must deal with the consequences._


	28. One Man Hide and Seek

_**Author's Note**__\- Hello everyone, today's game is a bit darker then I usually write for, but the story was requested by Missingwings and I do my best to write as many requests as I can come up with stories for. But before we get to this story a quick shout out to all my wonderful reviewers. Thank you Missingwings, BitterSweet Crazy, and Marzue for leaving wonderful reviews!_

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia nor do I suggest that you play the game mentioned in today's post. While I don't particularly believe in ghosts, I also think it is a really bad idea mess with things that I do not fully understand._

* * *

**One Man Hide and Seek**

* * *

"Germany, Italy, would you like to play a game with me tonight?" Japan asked his normally composed voice.

"Depends." Germany didn't bother looking up from the paperwork he was filling out on his desk. "What and when?"

"One Man Hide and Seek at about 3 AM."

"Why do we need to play at 3 AM?" Italy asked wide eyed. "That seems like a silly time to play. And why do you need us to play with you? Shouldn't you be able to play One Man Hide and Seek alone?"

"I guess I could play it by myself." Japan said thoughtfully. "But honestly it is more fun to play as a group. You are more likely to attract particularly interesting spirits with at group."

"I think…I think I'll pass." Italy stammered.

"Suit yourself." Japan shrugged, wandering off to the library.

At 3 AM Germany was unsurprised to find Italy glommed onto him like an octopus. The frighten nation didn't let go until noon the next day.

* * *

Two weeks later Italy had finally calmed down enough to sleep in his own bed allowing Germany to get some much needed rest. When his mind finally cleared from his exhausted blur he noticed that Canada was also frequenting the coffee pot.

"So did Japan manage to convince you to play One Man Hide and Seek with him?" Germany asked between gulps of the life giving bitter brew.

"Worse." Canada gave a half hearted smirk. "He convinced America to play it. Now Alfred is convinced that his house is haunted and refuses to sleep."

"So he is sleeping at your house?"

"Nope. He is staying awake at my house watching horror films all night in the hope that the movies will scare the ghosts away." Canada sighed. "And as long as my brother spends the night screaming and crying bloody murder in the basement there is a snowball's chance in Hell that I will get a good night's sleep."

"We should find a way to get back at Japan." Germany said flatly as he once again filled his cup with coffee.

"Agreed. After meetings?"

Germany nodded. "See you then."

Both countries headed in opposite directions. Each deep in thought trying to come up with the most appropriate way to cause Japan a few sleepless nights.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Wow, two stories where the prankster is probably regretting their actions in a row. Well I guess I might as well continue with themes and throw in another Japan story for your enjoyment._

_**Next Chapter**__\- _The Pocky Game_-Everyone knows that Japan has a crush on Taiwan. They also China is strongly against the two having any sort of a relationship. Will the two find a solution to circumvent China's watchful eye? _


	29. The Pocky Game

_**Author's Note-**__ Hello everybody, it has been raining heavily where I live and I have been stuck in bed due to an injury so this little short ended up being a whole lot more sappy then I intended. Hopefully you will still enjoy it. But before we get to the fun stuff a quick thank you to Marzue, BitterSweet Crazy, and Missingwings for leaving reviews. As always they are greatly appreciated. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or am I the maker of pocky and currently I do not participate in any sappy romantic flings so I have to write them instead._

* * *

**The Pocky Game**

* * *

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Japan had a major crush on Tawain, and it didn't take a historian to realize why a relationship between them would never work. Japan had done too good of a job burning most of his bridges across Asia during WWII and China was still unwilling to admit that Taiwan wasn't going to be returning to his rule. So if the island nation was going to court the woman who had caught his fancy he was going to have to get creative.

"Xiao Mei would you like to play a game with me?"

She nodded and Japan held out a piece of strawberry pocky. Once she had taken once end in her mouth he placed the other side in his own. Slowly the two nations began to eat their way towards the center of the stick.

One last nibble of pocky and his gingerly met her warm, petal soft lips. When they touched Japan couldn't keep his heart from quickening, but at some level he panicked. He looked at Tawian trying to make sure that he hadn't overstepped a boundary and poisoned his chances to be with her forever. Her eyes were closed, but as she felt him shift under her touch she brought her hands up to his face and drew him closer.

They both knew would be hell to pay later. China would make a diplomatic fuss, America would lecture and England would tut. But for the moment none of that mattered. For the moment all of the baggage that came with being a nation faded into the background leaving Honda Kiku to enjoy kissing the woman that his heart desired and savor the feeling of her kissing him back.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Make out session! I wonder how long it took to figure out who won that round._

_**Next Chapter-**_Down, Down, Down-_The meeting was suppose to start 15 minutes ago but New Zealand and Australia are chin down in the lobby and no one wants to leave until one of them wins._


	30. Down, Down, Down

_**Author's Note-**__ Sorry about not posting last week. I kind was working on my original fiction stuff and unlike my fanfiction writing I actually get paid for my original work so it sometimes trumps stuff. Huge thanks to Marzue, Missingwings, and Bittersweet Crazy for the wonderful reviews, and on to this week's story. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia nor have I been to Australia or New Zealand so I have never seen this game played in its natural habitat. _

* * *

**Down, Down, Down**

* * *

The challenge started before breakfast. New Zealand and Australia facing each other down in the atrium outside of the debating space, a ball poised in the continent's hand. The two countries stared at each other for a few long moments, then paying attention to a signal that no one else could hear Australia threw the ball. New Zealand jumped snatching it from midair. The game had begun.

The nations continued to pass the ball back and forth between each other. Normally they caught it with the grace of an acrobat, but every once in a while one of the two would stumble and drop the ball. When they did the gathered nations would gasp and who ever had lost that round of the game would bring a joint to the floor.

It started with one knee and then the other. Then as the lunchtime came and passed, New Zealand and Australia placed their elbows on the ground. Now as the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon The two were locked in the very last phase of the game. Their focus was absolute, and so was their audience's. Nearly every nation in the world waited baited breath wanting to know who would win. But even though New Zealand's and Australia's noses were pressed firmly to the ground and both showed signs of tiring, it was clear that near nation was about to give up. Neither wanted to be the one who dropped the final ball.

Finally, as the sun set and the moon rose, Germany canceled the meeting because the nation was wise enough to realize that no one was going to pay attention to that meeting as long as New Zealand and Australia battled it out in the lobby.

* * *

_**End Note- **__Well that was a short one. From what I have been told this particular game doesn't last that long. Normally a really long game between experienced players will only last for about an hour._

_**Next Chapter**__\- _Steal the Flag-_ Italy discovers that it is incredibly hard surrender when people keep kidnapping the tool you use to indicate said surrender._


	31. Steal The Flag

_**Author's Note-**__ Hello everyone. I don't know about you, but summer has hit where I am with full force so it is very appropriate that we will be able to enjoy a story about a popular night game. But before we get to that a quick thank you to Marzue, Missingwings, and RA99 for leaving wonderful reviews. Also, RA99 Murder in the Dark is a great idea for a game, so great that it is already written. Swing by the archives and take a look. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, nor do I encourage anyone to steal other people's underwear…even if the other person was practically asking for it…and it is kind of funny sometimes…_

* * *

**Steal the Flag**

* * *

The game should have been over. Hungary had successfully captured the opposite teams flag and brought it back to base over fifteen minutes ago. Still it seemed like the other team hadn't quite figured out that they had lost. In fact, one nation in particular, Italy, seemed to vigorously waving a strange shaped object in the air. After a few moments Prussia and Bulgaria decided that they should investigate the situation further and crawled closer to the enemy's frontline.

"Unterwäsche?" Prussia muter under his breath as he stared object that Italy had tied to a stick.

"Let me see." Bulgaria said as he snatched the binoculars out the former nation's hands. "Yep it looks like he is waving around his underwear to me."

"Well we can't just leave under things waving around like can we?" Prussia grinned before the two nations put their head together to create a plan.

* * *

"Vogel!" Prussia shouted pointing towards the sky. The moment that Italy looked up Bulgaria popped up from the bushes, grabbed the makeshift flag, and went tarring back to their side of the park.

"I was just trying to surrender." Italy exclaimed in dismay.

"Well you successfully surrendered your underwear!" Bulgaria said with a laugh as he speed after Prussia into the dark woods.

America, of course, decided to be the hero of the hour and quickly took chase after the two hooligans but while he was successful denuding several trees of their leaves and branches he failed to rescue the white boxer shorts. They were not recovered until the next morning when to Italy's great dismay the stolen underwear was proudly waving in the breeze directly underneath the UN flag on the flag pole.

* * *

_**End Note**__\- Poor Italy, well he should have know better. Bulgaria and Prussia were on the other team after all. _

_**Next Chapter**__-_Steal the Bacon_\- After the highly entertaining game of steal the flag at the last world meeting several countries decided to take the competition to the next level, but as they go into the final round everyone is wondering, is America really following the rules. _


	32. Steal The Bacon

_**Author's Note-**__ Hurray! This story just passed 100 reviews! Thanks a ton for everyone who has left encouragement, corrections, and suggestions so far. Especially to Guest, RA99, Missingwings, and BitterSweet Crazy who left reviews last chapter. Hopefully I will hear from a whole bunch of you guys in the future. Thanks again and on to the story!_

_**Disclaimer-**__ I still don't own Hetalia and currently I don't even own any bacon. Clearly either Prussia stole it or my brother ate it without telling me. Out of the two I'm betting on Prussia. ;p_

* * *

**Steal The Bacon**

* * *

After the incident involving Italy's underwear led to the nation refusing to leave his room, even when Germany tried to bribe him with pasta, for nearly a week several of the slightly more responsible nations decided games such as Steal The Flag probably shouldn't be played at the world meetings. Everyone had heard what had happened to Prussia when his younger brother had caught up with him and no one else wanted keep their eardrums intact. But Prussia, being Prussia managed to come up with a new version of the game, and Prussia, being Prussia also managed to convince a large number of other nations to join him in play it.

The rules to the new game were simple. Every nation who participated would purchase a package of bacon from their local supermarket and the hide it either in their fridge or their freezer. The game would continue until all but one nation had their bacon stolen from them. Prizes would be awarded to nation who successfully guarded their bacon through the entire game. But even though the rules appeared to be straight forward and simple, whenever you involved nations things were bound to get interesting.

The first modification to the rules occurred when they had to inform Russia that it was not appropriated to hid his bacon on a nuclear submarine, as the submarine was not his house. When it became clear that he was going to try to launch the bacon into space they explained things further. The bacon had to be located at one's primary address. The rule was further amended to state that you were not allowed to hid said bacon in your super secret bunker underneath your house, but by that time Belarus had already managed to sneak down into the dungeon and liberate the pork belly.

The second rule modification was made for the benefited of countries who wanted to participate but felt like they couldn't on religious grounds. If a nation felt uncomfortable about having pork bacon in their house for religious, or health grounds Hungary added, or concerns about global warming Seychelles interjected, could keep turkey or veggie bacon in the fridge instead as long as it was clearly marked.

But it turned out that America proved to require the most clarifications on the rules. There was the whole, you are not allowed to have other people/states guard your bacon for you while out to meetings/shopping/trying to steal other people's bacon. This occurred after a group of states successfully hog tied Demark upside down on the porch and left him there for Norway to rescue him. Then there was the F-bomb dropping aliens count as people too especially when they decide to send Switzerland on a quick visit to the International Space Station. (The paperwork for that incident was a nightmare.) And of course there was the definition of the word bacon.

"See I totally still have my bacon." America stated as he proudly showed off several slices of freezer burned Hawaiian Pizza.

"America." Mexico sighed in exasperation. "Just because you happen to have a couple of slices of pizza with Canadian bacon in your freezer doesn't mean you can count it as having bacon in your freezer."

"And it doesn't count as Canadian either." Canada huffed.

And so the game ended with America being disqualified, Nauru being the last nation with self purchase bacon in the fridge, and Japan with the most captures because as much as the Asian nation might deny it he most definitely had ninja skills.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ Personally I think the best version of the steal the bacon is actually played with greased watermelons, but I couldn't resist having the various characters steal bacon out of each other's freezers._

_**Next Game**_\- The Ground is Lava- _Germany quickly discovers just how difficult it is to get paperwork done while the bad touch trio is screaming bloody murder outside of his office window. _


	33. The Ground Is Lava

_**Author's Note-**__ Yes, I know it has been a couple weeks since I last posted, but it is a little bit challenging to get a hold of both computers and the internet for personal use when you are supporting encampment (the Air Force Auxiliary's version of basic training). It involved a lot of running after basics and making sure they were safe in the 100 + heat. Now that I am on the other side of the situation all I want to do is sleep, but I am behind in posting so I am giving you this little story first. But before I forget a quick shout out to this stories wonderful reviewers, thank you Panda Yuki-Chibi, GermanFanfictionfan, Missingwings, BitterSweet Crazy, and KAT of fanfiction for your lovely comments. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetaila. Never have, never will, so I will just have to continue writing fanfiction for my own amusement._

* * *

**The Ground Is Lava**

* * *

"Noooooooooooooo!"

The blood curdling scream practically shook the glass panes in Germany's office window, and it took all of the stoic nation's self control not to splatter ink across the official document he had been working on. He paused for a few long moments, hoping that the problem would resolve itself, when it didn't he stalked out into the garden.

Germany surveying the situation. Prussia, France, and Denmark were sprawled across one of his garden paths practically in tears, but nothing seemed to be the amiss. Which, of course, meant that the situation was going to be more complicated that he would have preferred to deal with.

"What in the world is the matter?"

"We are all doomed because France turned the grass to lava and so we cannot cross to the gazebo!" Prussia informed him, as though it was the end of the world.

"Do you really have to yell?" The only sober nation in the group glared.

"Of course we do!" France practically yelled in his ear.

"The beer is on the other side of the lava." Denmark moaned.

"And without beer life is hardly worth living!" Prussia rolled on the ground like an over grown toddler throwing a tantrum.

"So you will shut up if you could get to your beer?" Germany asked hopefully.

The three nodded, and Germany got to work. He collected some old wood and twine from the shed, then he tied the pieces together and in less than 10 minutes he had built a sturdy little bridge that crossed from the garden path to the little gazebo where the alcohol was located. Once the bridge was safely constructed across the great expanse of 'lava' and the three somewhat tipsy nations reunited with their beloved keg of beer, Germany figured it was safe to go back to his office. He had just dipped his pen back in his ink well when the cacophony started up again.

"Noooooooo! Not France! Why must our beloved France become an evil lava monster to terrorize our ever move!"

The howling continued outside in the garden, and Germany allowed his head to connect with his desk with a soft thud. No matter how hard he tried to stay ahead of Prussia and his friends, the three nations kept proving that while logic had its limitations, stupidity was no thus handicapped.

* * *

_**End Note-**__ If you haven't gotten enough of the lava game, I would suggest swinging over to YouTube and watching the Studio C episode 'The Ground Is Lava.' It is worth a giggle or two. _

_**Next**__**Game**__\- _Drill Off_\- In honor of the recent encampment I attended I thought I would throw in a game that is often played by military drill teams, by having the NATO countries participate in an old fashion marching game. _


	34. Drill Off

_**Author's Note**__\- Good evening, I am glad that Prussia, Denmark, and France's beer adventure kept many of you entertained. I am particularly grateful for Missingwings, BitterSweet Crazy, and Guest for leaving reviews for the last chapter. As always your comments are greatly appreciated. Well enough of me talking, on to the marching. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia and even in uniform I am terrible at keeping on step._

* * *

**Drill Off**

* * *

It started as a matter of military honor between Greece and Turkey, but as word of the argument spread to the other NATO countries at the meeting nations began to take side. On one side of the room Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic rallied around Turkey. On the other side Greece managed to organize Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, England, and the Netherlands to his cause. The rest of the nations were nervously stuck in the middle under Germany's leadership and America's apparent indifference as he slept through the whole situation.

What you may ask was the problem that so divided this group of allies? The answer is what was the proper way to march. Turkey argued that all countries should honor the history of the action and goosestep. Greece argued that goosesteping was for ninnies. With the argument nearly coming to blows, a calming influence came from the least militarized nation in the group.

"There is only one way to solve this problem." Iceland cleared his voice and started to organize nations into rows. "We will have a drill off. Then we can all see which marching style is more efficient."

The group actually managed to stay together for the first couple of orders. As long as they were just being asked to dress and cover the line, or to about face they were able to complete the task without knocking their neighbors unconscious. The real problem happened when the order to Quick March was given and every stepped forward at different speed.

It is possible that things would have eventually sorted themselves out if the fastest marcher, England, hadn't been placed behind the slowest one France. Next things anyone knew the entire middle column was a crumpled heap on the ground and the other two columns were looking rather ragged trying to avoid pile of limbs on the ground. Then life got a little more interesting.

"What's all that noise?" America yawned awaking from his nap.

"Nothing go back to sleep." England sighed as he tried to extract himself from the bottom of the pile.

"That doesn't look like nothing." America muttered sleepily as he surveyed the disheveled ranks of nations. Then the superpower's brain fully engaged and a look of on his face. "You guys are doing a drill off. I want to join!"

Most of the world's nations looked at each other with pained expressions and France let out an audible groan. It was bad enough trying to mesh the Commonwealth and the Eastern Bloc styles of marching. The last thing they wanted to deal was the unpredictable diversity of marching styles that America practiced, especially seeing the last time he participated in an international drill off they had had to call a draw after Russia and America had practically dismantled a building marching through walls.

"Maybe some other day." Canada spoke up diplomatically. "I don't know if the rest of the group is ready to track of you at the moment."

* * *

_**End Note-**__Americans do always seem to march to their own drum. To make it even more complicated the different armed forces have different lengths of stride when marching so if you have a Marine marching with a bunch of people with the Air Force the latter will quickly be left behind. _

_**Next Game**_\- Honey I love you- _The game was simple, try to get your partner to smile without touching them. Straight faced Norway would totally win this game right? Dead wrong._


	35. Honey, I Love You

_**Author's Note-**__ Yes, I know that I haven't posted much the last couple of weeks. I apologize for that, but when you are working in excess of 100 hours a week at work every minute of shuteye is precious. So in short, sleep won over writing. Now that I have gotten through the county fair and I have more breathing room you can expect posts coming through. But before we get to the fun part of the post, a quick thank you to BitterSweet Crazy, Missingwings, and GermanFanfictionfan for leaving wonderful reviews. I am glad it got you all in a marching mood. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I don't own Hetalia and I am personally terrible at this game. I smile every time._

* * *

**Honey, I Love You**

* * *

"Honey, I love you, won't you give me a smile?"

The words were repeated over and over. Sometimes with the bright cheerfulness of a long relationship, other times with a slight hopefulness, but most often with a seductive lilt which made the whole situation comical. Everyone knew the rules. The listener's job was to keep a straight face, while the speaker's job was to coax a smile out of them only using their voice and their facial expressions.

Some participants were significantly more effective at this than others. Sealand had Latvia giggling in a matter of moments, and Iceland did surprisingly well coxing a grin from Ireland. America didn't even need to be asked, he started grinning before Canada had a chance to open his mouth, and Finland only had to add the word please to his statement to convince Sweden to give him a shy smile. One by one teams left the floor as the listener in the pair broke until there was only two nations in the competition.

Finally as the seconds ticked towards the time that the game had been designated to end, Denmark leaned in and whispered something into his opponent's ear. Norway's snorted in a short laugh the edges of his mouth twitching upwards. The Nordic then promptly sucker punched Denmark in the gut and stormed off. Even curled on the ground, Denmark seemed too pleased with achievement to care.

"How did you do it?" Finland asked as he helped his fellow Scandinavian off of the ground.

Denmark just gave a carefree shrug, a smirk on his lips. "The sexy Swedish nurse line gets them ever time."

* * *

_**End Note- **__So this story is actually based in reality. In the military there are contest where you have to stand perfectly at attention for as long as you can. During one of these contest I witnessed a hardened French paratrooper stand as the last man on the field. One by one people tried to break him. Then one of the nerdist soldiers walked up and whispered something quietly in the paratroopers ear and the man broke down in laughter. When we asked the nerd what he had said he simply shrugged and told us that "the sexy Swedish nurse line gets them every time." _

_**Next Chapter-**_Senet- _It was the oldest board game known to man, and no one could remember the rules but that wasn't going to stop Egypt for making some up._


	36. Senet

_**Author's Note**__\- When I was growing up, one of my elementary school teachers made us play Senet as part of our Ancient Egypt unit and the fact she was perfect okay with explaining rules to a dead game always puzzled me. I can totally see Egypt taking advantage of this for his own amusement. Oh, and before I forget a huge thank you to GermanFanfictionfan and Missingwings for your review of the last chapter. Glad you had fun with it._

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, and like Egypt I also have no clue how Senet was originally played so I looked up a number of Senet historians (yes they do exist) hypothesis about the rules for this story._

* * *

**Senet**

* * *

Everyone assumed that there had been games that came before. There had probably also been board games that came before, Senet was simply too complex of a game to have been created in a vacuum, but today it was the oldest board game known to mankind and Egypt was incredibly proud of that. The fact that the nation literally had no clue how the game was played wasn't going to stop him from continuing the proud tradition.

The first step in reviving the game was to study the historical record for clues. There were several tomb murals which depicted pairs of people moving pieces around the table sized board. There were hieroglyphics explaining the importance of Senet as one of the essential skills in navigating the afterlife. There were even crude boards on the top of walls, which masons and other workman appeared to have played whenever they were taking a break from work. Still, compared with all of those other versions of those fragments of game play, the most helpful were the beautifully carved sets that were placed in the tombs of the Pharaohs for their use in the afterlife.

The next task was to locate a board. By far this was the simplest one to complete. All Egypt had to do was go to downtown Cairo and purchase a spectacular enough looking set from one of the vendors. It took a bit of haggling, but in time Egypt had even gotten it for a price he was willing to pay.

The last step in reviving an ancient game was to find an opponent. In Egypt's case there was only one logical choice, one of the Italy. While most of the world tended to view the Italians as stubborn and a bit dull witted, that was really giving the pair a poor reputation. While they tended to be oblivious to many things in the present they had an innate love of anything that came from the past.

"I win." Egypt smiled ruthful at his opponent. "Want to play again?"

The African nation would also end up winning the next 15 games about Italy, leaving the other nation scratching their head on why they couldn't get the upper hand. What Egypt would never admit was one of the advantages of playing a dead game was that you could always tweak the rules to be in your favor and no one would ever be the wiser.

* * *

_**Historical Note**__\- The first record of the game Senet, which translates to game of passing, shows up in the hieroglyphs around 3100 BC, about the same time that Upper and Lower Egypt were unified. It was also played as late as 400 AD well after when the Romans had concurred Egypt. It finally fell out of popular favor when Christianity came to the region and the games pagan context turned it from being a necessity to learn to a game people were uncomfortable playing it. _

_**End Note-**__ Well if you make up the rules, you might as well make up rules that help you win. _

_**Next Chapter**_\- A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea- _The standard clapping game is a bit boring for Canada and America when they were growing up. They chose to do epic clapping games instead…much to England's dismay. _


	37. A Sailor Went To Sea, Sea, Sea

_**Author's Note**__\- So, I totally let life get in the way of writing for a while. I am trying to get back on the horse, but knowing my luck I will probably fall off again a few more times before this story is through. Enough life stuff, quick thanks for Missingwings for the wonderful review, and on to the story. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, and I am terrible at clapping games._

* * *

**A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea**

* * *

England had originally taught the American twins how to play clapping games soon after France ceded Canada to Great Britain in 1763. The nation had hoped that playing the simple collaborative games might calm America's rebellious streak. He hadn't counted on the fact that Alfred was more creative than any caregiver would have liked, and even though Arthur prayed daily that Mathew would eventually provide a stabilizing force in the boy's life.

Unfortunately, Mathew, while certainly the quieter of the two twins that didn't mean that he didn't have problems that needed to be worked out. First there was is infernal habit of speaking French, all of the time, even though Arthur washed the boy's mouth out with soap repeatedly for the offence. Then there was the fact that the colony refused to eat anything that Arthur cooked. Yes, England realized he wasn't the most skilled chef in the world, but that didn't give Canada the right to turn up his nose at perfectly edible food.

In the end, England discovered that one of his problems ran smack dab into the middle of his other one. England had runout of cheese and bread which meant that Canada hadn't eaten anything in the past two days, but America had managed to once again run off his their caretaker. This meant England was either going to have to bring the two boys to town with him, or he was going to have to leave them alone at the house. Seeing that America had somehow managed to light a merchant ship on fire and knock over not one but three wagons the last time they went into town, leaving the twins to their own devices seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Which, of course, brought England back to idea of clapping games. The island nation had taught the two boys a new rhyme and encouraged them to play it quietly in the parlor. Once they were absorbed in the game, England practically bolted out the door, saddled the horse, and rode into town as quickly as he could in hopes he could complete his list of errands before Alfred could come up with a disrupted prank.

As England crested the hill it became clear he hadn't move quickly enough. Alfred and Mathew were still both playing A Sailor Went to Sea, but had apparently gotten bored playing it quietly in the parlor. They were now were now playing across the yard, practically dismantling parts of England's colonial home as bounced from one syllable to the next.

He sighed and moved to put the horse back in the barn so he could attempt to calm the two boys down. When he discovered that the barn had been completely flattened leaving the cow to wonder in the garden, the pigs to root through the outhouse, and the goats to harass the chickens. That was the last straw. England's patience was spent.

"Alfred!" Arthur yelled with his most authoritarian voice. "You will put that barn back together this instant or I swear I will swat your behind so hard you will never wish to sit down again!"

After that things were put back in order quite quickly…with of course the exception of Arthur's good china which was hopelessly ruined.

* * *

_**Historical Note**__\- We don't know exactly when clapping games came into existence. Unlike board games they leave no physical proof, and until recently they were consider such a minor part of oral tradition that people didn't bother writing them down. What we do know is that clapping games are played worldwide by people of both sexes and of all ages. If live in Europe or a country that was heavily colonized by Europeans, you may notice that these cultures predominantly encourage young girls to play clapping games. _

_**End Note**__\- Poor North American twins. It is a miracle they survived England's cooking. _

_**Next Chapter**_-Mafia-_In the darkest days of the Soviet Union no one, not even the personification of the Russian nation, could speak against the state. In this environment how could you explore the corruption and doubt that you faced on a daily basic? The answer was simple, pretend you were Italian for an evening. _


	38. Mafia

_**Author's Note**__\- Well I have been fighting the cat while righting this story. She has been doing her best to sit on the keyboard, but the fact that I am currently posting this story means that I have won the battle. On to the credits huge thanks to big big lan for dropping a line and missingwings for the lovely review. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, and I am not known for my Mafia skills as my poker face is severely lacking._

* * *

**Mafia**

* * *

The cracks were starting to show.

His empire was starting to crumble. As the Cold War came to a close and Russia could no longer shelter the states of the Soviet Union behind Iron, Bamboo, and Ice Curtains. The Baltics rumbled their discontent. East Germany, the traitor, kept trying to pick away at the wall that had kept him safe from the control of the capitalist pig America. Poland was falling under the spell of the Sinatra Doctrine. The Socialist Republics of Romania, Hungry, Albania, and Bulgaria, were all starting to push for their own independence. Still, Russia would continue to do his best play the role of Tsar over kingdom.

At this time of instability, Russia decided it was time remind the Soviet Union why they existed. He held a conference where his most faithful nations could lecture those who were going astray about the dark days of the World Wars. He tried to remind his nations of the terror of the others, but it was hard to strike the fear of capitalism in the hearts of countries whom were consuming juicy fruit gum in the lecture hall, or were completely comfortable with the fact that Finland was wearing Levi jeans.

Well, if reminding his wayward brothers and sisters was not going to convince them to change their ways, Russia still had another weapon in his arsenal. That night, he gathered his flock of nations into an old army barracks. There he introduced them to a new game that had been invented the year before at Moscow University, a game that they would be playing for the next couple of days.

It was called Mafia, and he explained that they were going to pretend that they were the citizens of a small Italian town. Each night those who had been assigned as the Mafia would awaken and silently select one of the town's folks to die. During the day the town would vote to lynch one of their numbers in the hopes of controlling the Mafia. Russia then passed out pieces of paper.

The fact that everyone had been assigned to the Mafia didn't stop them from killing someone every night, and selecting someone to be lynched every day.

* * *

_**Historical Note**__\- Dmitry Davidoff is credited with the creation of the game Mafia with its debut occurring either in 1986 or 1987. While Dmitry didn't exactly spell things out, it is believed that the game was designed to mimic some of the psychological stresses that occurred under the KGB. Even at the tail end of the Cold War speaking out about the KGB could still be a death sentence, but with the cracks of the collapse of the Soviet Union starting to show there was enough latitude to play a game where groups of people tried to combat the Mafia, which was a well-known problem in both Italy and America. As to why Russia decided to make everyone playing a member of the Mafia? Let's just say that Stalin's purges was the genesis of that idea._

_**End Note**__\- So that was a little bit dark, but considering the game's history, what do you expect? _

_**Next Chapter-**_Marco Polo_\- In which Germany realizes that not all training exercise are created equal._


	39. Marco Polo

_**Author's Note-**__ So, you are benefiting from an earlier than normal post today because I had to call in sick. Luckily while I need to avoid people at the moment, my computer doesn't seem to mind that I flu. Also thanks to magicflyingmintbunnies for leaving a review and making my day. Thanks. _

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia, but I do own pasta. Lots and lots of pasta._

* * *

**Marco Polo**

* * *

Feliciano was quite possibly the worst solider known to mankind. No matter what Germany tired, the personification of Northern Italy would find some way to either get himself injured or surrender. On a gut level Ludwig suspected that it was all a ploy to get out of training, but that didn't relieve Germany or his responsibility. He would just have to work harder to insure that Italy would have the skills to not get himself shot moment he experience combat and the only solution that Germany could come up with was to use games to get Italy to participate.

"Today we will be testing our ability to communicate under less than ideal situations. For this game I will be blindfolded. When I say Marco, you will then reply with Polo. I will continue to say Marco, you will say Polo until I catch someone. Then the person who is caught will be blindfolded and start calling Marco. Does everyone understand?" There was a rumbling of affirmatives in various languages, and Germany put on his blindfold. "Marco."

Germany called out and a number of countries shouted back the correct response, but one countries voice stuck out like a sore thumb. "Pasta!"

"Italy!" Germany barked.

"What?" Italy chirped in reply.

"When I say Marco, you will reply with Polo. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Germany, sir."

"Alright, we shall begin again." Germany took a deep breath and started again. "Marco!"

"Pasta!"

This time there was a bunch of sniggering going on as Germany pulled off his blindfold and marched over to glare at Northern Italy. "Feliciano was there something there some part of my instructions that were unclear?"

"No, Germany."

"So you heard them clearly?"

"Yes, Germany."

"And you chose to willfully disobey my direct order?"

"Yes, Germany."

"Why pray tell?"

"Because why would you ever want to say Polo when you could say Pasta instead?" Italy spoke as though he was the absolute authority on the subject. "Pasta is delicious. Everyone should be saying pasta."

"Fine," Germany sighed after realizing that there was no way that he was going to convince Italy to say Polo in a reasonable amount of time, "you can say pasta."

"Gracias Germany!" Italy glommed onto the taller nation.

"Italy!" Germany voice was livid and for once Italy picked up on the tone and stopped hugging him.

* * *

_6 Months Later_

It was supposed to be a simple mission, a simple scout the limits of the enemy lines and then get out. No mission could ever be completely safe, but Germany through that if he kept Italy in the center of the pack and paired him with one of his most trusted officers he could give Feliciano valuable combat experience while also keeping him out of harm's way. He hadn't planned on Italy's impressive for attracting trouble.

The problem started when

"Marco…Marco are you okay?" German uttered in barely a whisper, but when the soldier did not reply Germany had to make the decision speak a little louder. He whispered harshly "Marco."

"Pasta!" The reply came from the tree line, shattering icy silence.

Germany swore under his breath hastily retreated back to the line. He barely had enough time to yank Italy out of the way as a hail of bullets rained down on their position. Running through the frozen woods, with his fellow nation in tow the thought that Germany couldn't get out of his head was that if the British commandos didn't shoot Italy for being such an idiot, Germany was pretty much ready to do the job himself.

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ So I didn't exactly stick with the history on this story, but when it popped into my head I couldn't resist writing it. The game Marco Polo is actually a pretty recent one. It first shows up in the historical record in the 70's. At the time is was described as a children's game often played in the water. It is believed to have evolved from a game called Mermaids on the Rocks. _

_**End Note-**__ In short, Italy may be good at many things, but when it comes to soldiering he is a walking time bomb. _

_**Next Chapter**_-Pokemon-_When disaster hit, Japan knew there was one place where he could turn…he knew he could turn to the little monsters who dwelled in his pocket._


	40. Pokemon

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, I hope that the week as treated you well. Just as a heads up, this particular chapter makes some references to another story that I have written, Under the Rising Sun. If you are interested in learning more about some of the other impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake I would suggest checking that out. Before we get to the story though, I would like to make a quick shout out to some of my amazing reviewers. Thank you Missing wings, big big lan and CiaoFromItaly. As always I love to get your feedback and suggestions. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, and I am not a Pokémon expert. That job falls to my little brother who is the family Pokémon master._

* * *

**Pokémon**

* * *

They psychologists say that there are 5 universal stages of grief. Steps which a human being must transition across in order to become whole after tragedy. What the psychologists didn't know was that the journey through grief through renewal was far more complicated for a healing nation. For when tragedy struck a nation the personification of that country would be trapped, battered about by the strong emotions of their citizens

In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami it was difficult for Japan to sit still. Even though his body ached from all the rocks that had moved and his stomach churned with the debris that choked his harbors, the island nation found it difficult to sit still. The ground swell fear and anger, the play between barging and depression, the schism of acceptance and denial, all made Japan feel like he was being torn apart. In a way social media was making the situation worse, as people mirrored and strengthen each other's words on the internet.

Yet, even in darkness, it was possible to find little sparks of light which brought comfort in the darkness. One of the strongest sparks of light in the wake of this crippling disaster was an old, gray Gameboy that America had brought when he visited. Included in the bag was three game cartridge. There was the English Pokémon Red and Blue releases, as well as, the Pokémon Green cartridge, the one that Japan had used to teach America how to read Japanese almost two decades before.

It was amazing just how important a role that little game would play in Japan's recovery. When nightmares hit the first couple nights it was America who would flick on the lights and convince Japan to beat a level or two. Soon they were joking about their favorite gaming memories and arguing about which Pokémon master was the best. This allowed the memories that haunted Japan's dream to fade into the background…at least until the next aftershock it.

As Japan watch his nation recover, it was clear that Pokémon was playing a critical role in helping other people recover as well. The Pokémon With You campaign did not only raise millions of dollars, but Pikachu was sent into communities that badly needed a moral boost. The nation almost cried when he received text messages from Tohoku that America had tracked copies of both Pokémon Black and Pokémon White to help distract the Japanese region from his home sickness as he was treated for radiation sickness in America.

Pokémon could not bring back all of the people that Japan had lost. It wouldn't be able to repair the cities, nor stop the living nightmare at the Fukushima Reactor. But there was one thing that Pokémon hand offer and that was hope. At this moment, that hope might be the most valuable thing that a game could give a mourning generation.

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ Pokémon was originally a video game created by a man who loved catching frogs and insects as a child, who dragged his friends helping create a game where children could catch all sorts of fantastic creatures. To add a level of competitiveness they allowed payers to compete for badges using pocket monsters that they had caught. With the success of the video game the card game, manga, anime, and movies soon followed. Pokémon took the world by storm and was pivotal in introducing a generation of youth to Japanese games and anime. The series is celebrating its 20__th__ anniversary in 2016. _

_**End Note**__\- I choose you Pikachu! Hurray for game therapy._

_**Next Game-**_ Nude Olympics- _France insisted that in the spirit of the ancient Olympic Games, there should be a place where you could compete in sport without any clothes on. Surprisingly he convinced Australia to host it. _


	41. Nude Olympics

_**Author's Note-**__ So, a few weeks ago I hit writers block and so I googled unusual sports and games. The Nude Olympics popped up and this little story soon followed. But before we get to the story a quick shout out to the last posts wonderful reviewers. Thanks to Missingwings, LilyRosetheDreamer, and CiaoFromItaly for giving feedback. It is much appreciated. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia and I really disagree with France's and Ancient Greece's opinion when it comes to clothing while playing sports._

* * *

**Nude Olympics**

* * *

These were the Olympic Games the way that the Greeks meant them to be, standing in nothing but a suntan. An offering to Gods. The ultimate representation of humanity. Yet, as he prepared to compete in pure sport, France kept on hoping that the rest of the women would show up, and possibly some men who had done a little more prep. Yes there were a couple of athletes who looked as though they stepped out of the Greek Myths of the pasts, but there were also a group that were the type of person that you really don't see naked. The fact that one of the official sports at this Olympics was a Donut Eating Competition.

"Relax mate." Australia yawned as he stretched out on the warm golden sand.

"This isn't the Olympics." France harrumphed.

"Yes it is. It is officially the Nude Olympics, mate."

"It isn't a real Olympics." France crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Of course not." Australia sighed contentedly as he watch groups of children frolicking in the waves trying to complete the treasure hunt. "But, if you want to allow people to compete in sport the way that the Ancient Greeks meant us to, you are going to have to adapt the games to a modern context. This event isn't meant to be dog eat dog like the modern Olympic Games have become. They are supposed to be fun."

"But you are not doing any of the same events. It seems like the only sport that is the same is the Tug O'War and the IOC dropped that from the line up over 50 years ago."

"Stop being a sook. Are you going to challenge me in the Best Bum competition?" Australia asked as France pulled his fellow nation to his feet.

"Well I have come this far to participate, and with a magnificent buot like this how could I not win?"

Australia took a quick look at France's backside and smirked. "We will see about that."

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ So the first Nude Olympics were held in 1983 and they still happen today, but they are not actually called the Nude Olympics anymore, they are instead called the Pilwarren Maslin Beach Nude Games. The competition was shortly called the Nudo Lympics in an attempt to bypass trademarks that have been put on the word Olympics, but they Australian Olympic Committee argued that Nudo Lympics still suggested the term Olympics and so it also couldn't be used. The moral of this story, avoid Olympic politics whenever possible_.

_**End Note- **__France, the story is done now, please go put your clothes back on._

_**Next Game-**_ Apples to Apples-_ Playing Apples to Apples with North Korea was a bit like playing Apples and Oranges instead. _


	42. Apples to Apples

_**Author's Note**__-Hey everyone I am back, and today will be taking on a country which doesn't make many appearances in Hetalia verse, but before we get to that a huge thanks for Missingwings, CiaoFromItaly, and kayoi1234 for reviewing the last chapter. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia or Apples to Apples, nor do I take responsibility for any of North Korea's actions. That said I will shameless make fun of North Korea in this piece._

* * *

**Apples to Apples**

* * *

Today's game of Apples to Apples would have been a normal break from the chaos of world council meetings, if it wasn't for the fact that North Korea had decided to join them for a few rounds. This fact probably would have also been tolerated if North Korea hadn't also insisted on writing his own answer on a bunch of blank note cards instead of using the red cards provided in the game.

"China." England huffed and the isolated nation threw another index card to the center of the table. "Can't you tell North Korea to cool it?"

"Stop it." China said without bothering to look up from his own cards.

"Like that will have much effect." France scoffed as he tossed a red card into the pile. "Who invited him anyway?"

"You do realize he is right there, right?" Hungary nodded her head towards the manic nation.

"Of course dear." France said as he placed his hand his fellow nation's knee, and barely moved in time to prevent her from smashing them into the bottom side of the table. He didn't bother registering her glare. "But as long as he keeps those ear plugs and refuses to actually acknowledge that the rest of us happen to be in the same room I think we are safe. Which brings me back to my first question. Who invited him?"

"No one." America huffed as he gathered up the stack of red cards. "He invited himself." The Superpower scanned through the stack of before him purposefully ignoring the handwritten card that had been thrown into the mix. "Who picked Bigfoot?"

"Me!" Northern Italy happily chirped as America handed him the green card.

"Okay everyone, who has a card that can describe 'Pleasant' best?" Canada asked tossing the green card to the center of the table. The game went on when different nations either presenting a green card or picking a red card from their hand.

Everything went smoothly until it was North Korea's turn to draw a green card. To everyone's surprise, he did. Reading the word aloud North Korea place card 'Glittery' on the middle of the table. Before anyone even had a chance to put down a red card, North Korea announced that the note card with the words 'The Great Leader' scrawled across it won…Everyone sighed. Playing Apple to Apples with North Korea probably should be called Apples to Oranges instead, but everyone knew that North Korea played by his own rules so that was kind of expected.

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ Invented in 1998 Apples to Apples is such a young game I struggled a bit finding interesting history about it, but I did find an interesting factoid. While many people have played Apples to Apples in English, but did you know that you can play it in three other languages? They are Germany, Spanish, and Yiddish. There are also two Jewish editions of the game, so clearly I should have done more research on this game before writing this piece and included Israel. _

_**End Note**__\- So are you an Apples to Apples or an Apples to Oranges type of person? _

_**Next Chapter**_-Cards Against Humanity –_ It hard to determine who was more upset at Norway because Denmark introduced Iceland to Cards Against Humanity or Sweden who was ready to throttle England for introduced Sealand for the exact same game. Yep, you heard me right there is much Nordicness is in store. _


	43. Cards Against Humanity

_**Author's Note**__\- By popular demand I present you Cards Against Humanity. This particular game was requested by several people, but it took me a while to formulate the story. I hope that it meets the expectations of all last chapter's wonderful reviewers (ivyshadow13, Missingwings, ApplePajama, Red-Hot Habanero, Abc, and CiaoFromItaly) who all mentioned that they were looking forward to this particular chapter. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, and this particularly post involves Cards Against Humanity so yes, it will involve political incorrectness. This story also involves Denmark, England, and Sealand in the same room so it is not really young kid appropriate. You have been warned._

* * *

**Cards Against Humanity**

* * *

"So I think that 'The violation of our most basic human rights,' totally wins the 'What helps Obama unwind?', that said the 'Poorly time holocaust jokes' was masterfully played." Iceland said.

"I love that this game as so many cards about dicks!" Sealand said as he shuffled the black cards. Picking up a card and read it to the group. "Okay, this rounds card: 'When all else fails I can always masturbate to…" Sealand glanced up from the card to see the slacked faced stare of Iceland and Denmark looking back at him. "What?"

"S' wh's idea w's th's?" At Sweden's country instantly everyone in the room started pointing fingers at each other, which of course caused Sweden to target Denmark. The tall nation was about ready to deck the older nation for corrupting the two younger ones when Sealand tugged on his arm.

"Hey this is totally not Denmark's fu…" Sealand started and noticed Sweden get that special glare when he was just about ready to deck Russia and decided he may want to rephrase his statement. "It is not Denmark's fault. Jerk England taught me play this game. I just joined in when I saw that Denmark and Iceland were playing."

"Totally true bro." Denmark held his hands up in surrender. "I may have introduced Iceland to the game, but Sealand totally knew how to play before he joined us."

"'s th't so." Sweden commented flatly as he quickly snatched up the card game and stuffed into the pocket of his coat.

"Hey that is my game!" Denmark tried to protest, but Sweden ignored him and headed back out the door. "Which I am apparently not going to get back. Well, clearly we are not going to get to play another round of Cards Against Humanity. Luckily I also packed my copy of Crabs Adjust Humidity."

"So what's the difference?" Sealand asked.

"Crabs Adjust Humidity is a parody of Cards Against Humanity, so basically they are the exact same thing."

"Sounds great!" Iceland chimed in, as he got up to grab another coke out of the fridge.

* * *

England had been having a pleasant afternoon, but the key word of that sentence was clearly 'had'. Currently the warmth of that pleasant afternoon with a hot cup of earl grey and a good book was rapidly fading into the past due to the very large, very grumpy nation who had let himself into England's sitting room.

"Sweden, what is this about?" England sighed at the behemoth taking over the middle of his sitting room. Sweden just pulled out a card game and showed the island nation. Realization quickly clicked into place when England read the title. "Oh come on. It is a game."

"Th'ght this, w's a g'd idea?"

"I actually thought it was incredibly entertaining so bugger off."

"Seal'nd is a ch'd." Sweden's glare and tone was icy.

"Sealand is a 60 odd year old sea fort with delusions of grandeur. And before you try to argue with me about that if Sealand makes so much sense why in the world is he the only sea fort that insists that he needs nationhood!" England gave a dismissive wave.

Sweden refused to budge. "W' c'ld t'lk 'll d'y, but th't doesn't ch'nge th' fact I f'nd Seal'nd play'n this g'me with Denm'rk this aft'rn'n."

"Then then has nothing to do with me." England threw his hands up in frustration, only to be met by Sweden's glare indicated that he wasn't going to budge on the subject until England gave some sort of an apology. "Fine, I will not teach Sealand any other kind of naughty games. But I make no promises about Denmark isn't going to corrupt the boy with those types of activities."

"Not, w'rried." Sweden shrugged.

"Why not?"

"Norges, y'll'n at Denm'rk." A ghost of a smile flitted across the tall nation's month as he strolled out of the British Island's front door and back into the night.

"Ah." England after a moment. Then he closed the front door and numbly walked back into the house with the realization that the confrontation that he just had with Sweden was a hundred times more pleasant than what Denmark was probably currently going through.

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ After a game like Cards Against Humanity how I could resist covering the history of political correctness. The concept of political correctness is a relatively recent one. In fact, it really didn't enter the vocabulary until the 20__th__ century. The concept and the term popped up in culture right around WWI. This particular cultural change was led by the US and the British Commonwealth. Some aspects of political correctness has changed over time, but then as now only certain groups are protected by political correctness. White American males especially those with some republican leanings have never historically been a protected class, so basically it is considered okay to make fun of Alfred Jones all we want._

_**End Note**__\- Well, we can now drag ourselves out of that black hole and go back to the rest of our lives._

_**Next Game**__\- _Catch the Dragon Tail-_ It was as though China and Japan where playing a long game of catch the dragon tail. Sometimes China would be the head and cased Japan around, other times the tides were turned and the game would reverse. _


	44. Catch A Dragon's Trail

_**Author's Note**__\- There are moments in life when it feels like an ocean is crashing upon you and there is nothing that you can do to keep yourself a float. Kind of having that type of week at work and thought it was kind of ironic that those are the themes behind today's story. But before we get to the story a huge thanks to all the reviewers who found humor in the in the Games Against Humanity installment. Thank you to Genevieve, Agnes, Abc, Iron Rose Writer, Missingwings, Ariaprincess, and Red-Hot Habanero your comments really have gotten me through this week. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, and Asian politics is complicated._

* * *

**Catch A Dragon's Tail**

* * *

Negotiations in the Far East had always been complicated. Today, China likened the conditions to a game of Catch A Dragon's Tail. Some days China would be the head attempting to catch Japan, other days Japan would be the one chasing China. Regardless of which one was playing the head and which was playing the tail, the rest of the world always seemed to find a way to get in the way.

Both nations knew that this truce would not last forever. Eventually the Dragon would defeat the body of nations that worked so hard to keep the two countries apart when they were in a foul mood. The other nations of the region had seen what happened when the dragon had caught it tails in the past, and none of them wanted to pick up the pieces.

* * *

_**Historical Note**__\- China-Japan relationships have always been a bit complicated. The short version can be summed up by saying that they take turns invading each other. The first recorded battle between the two was in AD 663 and they continue to skirmish back and forth today. _

_**End Note-**__ Politics really does seem like an endless game sometimes. Yes I know this one was short, but next one will be longer._

_**Next Game**_**-** The World's Hardest Game-_ The worlds more internet literate countries take on the world's hardest game. Will your home country win? Is your home country even on the top 10 list? Join us next week to find out._


	45. The World's Hardest Game

_**Author's Note**__\- This is one of those little stories which you can totally blame google. I was trying to find some particularly difficult games to play and of course the World's Hardest Game popped up. I also had to do some research about computer literacy for work, and the two topics ended up pairing together perfectly. Hopefully you all will enjoy. Speaking of enjoying. Thank you to Missingwings, WriterGreenREads, Kayoi1234, and Bayboo20 for leaving reviews for the last chapter. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia and I have not been able to get past the first level of the World's Hardest Game so most of the references I got from youtube and reviews._

* * *

**The World's Hardest Game**

* * *

When Iceland organized a game competition for the most internet literate nations on the planet he thought he would just invite the top five (the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, Norway, Sweden, and of course himself), but then he realized that Denmark was number 6th on the list. While Denmark was not always the best person to invite to a party he would always bring beer and beer seemed like a good item to have at this kind of event. Then Sweden had asked he could bring Finland along. If Finland at 13 was brought in Iceland could leave out Greenland at 16 and Faroe Islands at 17. Those two Nordics got left out of everything. So Iceland line up would involve 17 countries (Falkland Islands, Iceland, Bermuda, Norway, Sweden, Demark, Netherlands, Andorra, Curacao, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Niue, Finland, Canada, Monaco, Greenland, and Faroe Island.)

The combatants selected, it was easy to select the game. He would have all 17 nations try to take on the World's Hardest Game. In theory, the game was simple. The players' job was to navigate their red square around the blue dots, capture the yellow dots, and safely arrive into the green zones. In practice it was the video game equivalent of trying to thread a needle through a pin wheeling, testis playing haystack. This said all of the invited nations moved through the mazes with incredible speed and skill. Even less than sober, Denmark managed to complete the challenges with only a few deaths.

"Well, that was an interesting diversion." Andorra yawned as she tried to steal another slice of pizza. "What should we do now?"

"Well, we can always take on the World's Hardest Game 2." Iceland suggested. He didn't wait for the rest of the nations to respond, instead he dive straight back on to the computer to take on the next set of challenges.

* * *

_**Historical Note**__\- The smaller the country, particularly islands, usually providing internet to their entire population. The Nordic countries have also had a big push towards making sure all citizens have access to the internet. That is one of the biggest reasons why this particular story skews so strongly towards small and Nordic countries instead of the larger countries who are more typically thought of as the computer powerhouses. _

_**End Note**__\- Want to give the World's Hardest Game a try. You can play it for free on many platforms. Give it a google and go forth and waste an afternoon. _

_**Next Game**__\- _Ring Around The Roses_\- The commonwealths are sure they know what the little game meant, that was of course, until Ireland set them straight. _


	46. Ring Around The Roses

_**Author's Note**__\- Hey everyone, while I know some people will disagree with information in this particular story, I did spend just over two weeks diving into sources. But before we dive in to controversy that you to the many, many people who suggested that Ring Around the Roses would be an interesting game to highlight. I love writing about games you guys suggest and I agree, this one was a fun one to research. Also, a huge thanks to Magicflyingmintbunnies, ABC, Guest, and Missingwings for leaving reviews last week. _

_**Disclaimer**__\- I do not own Hetalia, and the creatures with the plague I have meet were all squirrels who do not have opinions on today's subject._

* * *

**Ring Around The Roses**

* * *

"Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies," New Zealand sung quietly to himself as he put the dishes out on the table.

"Liam will you stop that." South Africa muttered from the couch. "Really, that is not a song that you should be singing over our food."

"But I like it."

"Even though it makes all those gruesome references?" Canada tried to point out gentle.

"I don't see why a song's history should stop me from enjoying it." New Zealand countered. "After all, I have many fond memories of playing Ring Around the Roses with you guys. Those memories have got to count for something."

"But it is about…" Jamaica opened her month to try to protest

"You have no clue what that little rhyme is really about do you?" Ireland chuckled.

"It is about death and destruction and fire and all sorts of things that should be terrifying for children." America replied a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"Wrong."

"The song is about the Great Plague." Singapore sputtered.

"Wrong." Ireland seemed to be enjoying herself. "It is a song that was originally used to teach kids how to curtsy at court. It is a little nonsense game."

"Wait, if the song isn't about the plague why does England keep telling us about the connection?" New Zealand asked, his face blank with confusion.

"Because it is a bloody good story." England shouted from the other kitchen as he promptly set the shepherd's pie on fire. After taking a few moments to put out the flames he put the hot dish onto the table. "Supper is ready."

Everyone but America scattered to the 4 winds.

* * *

_**Historical Note-**__ I know that I may get lectured about this, but Ring around the Rosie is not, nor has it ever been about the great plague. This is an Urban Legend that you can blame on the Americanziation of the rhyme which ended up adding several details such as ashes, ashes, and had everyone fall down on the ground instead of fall into a curtsy. Because the new rhyme didn't make much sense with the changes in lyrics and without the context of court life, Americans got creative and came up with their own story about the rhyme around the time of the Second World War. One that had even made its way into textbooks, because while it is not based on reality, why should that stop a good story. _

_**End Note**__\- America, the only country who can stomach England's cooking. lol_

_**Next Game**__\- _Sudoku_\- The game was based on an old Swiss game. It was reinvented by America and named by Japan, yet it would be the Baltic nations who would get addicted to playing with numbers. Much to Russia's dismay._


End file.
